The Shanghai update enabled the possibility for everyone who staked Ethereum to the Beacon chain to be able to withdraw. This was one of the most anticipated update and there was a lot of uncertainty around it. Everyone who staked ETH was unable to withdraw it, effectively locking it until this update happens. As a remined, the beacon chain went live at the end of 2020, and its take two and a half years since then for the unstaking option to went live.
How is this affecting the staked Ethereum. Are more users unstaking or maybe staking now? Will we see a selling pressure from the unstaked Ethereum.
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Here we e will be looking at:
- Staked Ethereum by date
- Staked VS Unstaked ETH since the Shanghai update
- Share of staked ETH
- Number of validators
- Top stakers
- Change in the staked ETH by users since the update
The data presented here is mostly gathered from Dune Analytics.
Staked Ethereum By Date
Here is the chart.
This is the amount of staked ETH since the launch of the Beacon chain and the option for staking Ethereum in November 2020.
We can see a constant growth in the amount of ETH staked and on some occasions a sharp increases. At the moment of writing this there is 18.5M ETH staked.
If we zoom in 2023 we get this:
Here we can notice the sharp increase in February, a steady growth after, and some up’s and downs in April. The Shanghai update went live on April 12, and there was some large staking but also unstaking events since then.
Deposits VS Withdrawals Since The Shanghai Update
If take a look at the daily deposits vs withdrawals since the update we get this:
Most of the days are in positive, meaning that more ETH is being staked in general that ustaked, even with the ustaking option enabeled. There are two big unstaking events on Apr 15 and just yesterday on Apr 24th, where more than 100k ETH was unlocked in a day.
Share Of Staked Ethereum
What is the share of staked Ethereum?
When compared to the total ETH supply that is around 120M now, the 18.5M staked ETH represents a 15% of the supply.
Number Of Validators
Here is the chart.
The number of validators has also continued to grow. At the moment there is close to 600k validators, or 580k to be more exact.
Note that these are not unique validators, as most of them are represented by a pool or some type of CEX.
Top Ethereum Stakers
Who is staking the most? Here is the chart.
The Lido pool is on the top with almost 6M ETH staked. This pool has even its own token for governance. On the second spot is the Coinbase exchange, followed by another exchange Binance. Kraken is next, on the list, but this exchange is already in a process of unwinding its staked ETH as it got a fine from the SEC for offering staking as a service.
Who Has Been Staking/Unstaking The Most Since The Update
Here is the chart.
Kraken is the outlier here with almost 500k ETH unstaked since the update. This is most likely due to the legal issues the exchange has with the SEC.
On the other side of the spectrum is the Lido pool, who has increased its staked ETH for almost 300k since the update.
Summury
The Shanghai update allowed users who had staked their tokens to the Beacon chain to withdraw them, a highly anticipated move after two and a half years of locked funds. Despite the option to unstake, the overall trend shows that more Ethereum is being staked than withdrawn. Currently, 18.5 million ETH are staked, representing 15% of the total supply. Notably, Kraken has unstaked nearly 500k ETH due to legal issues with the SEC, while Lido pool has increased its staked ETH by almost 300k since the update. Cumulatively since the update there is a total of 360k more ETH staked.
