The Ethereum staking landscape has undergone significant changes over the past month. Institutional investors, led by BitMine and new ETFs, have filled the network's capacity.
This influx has created a logistical 'bottleneck.' New participants now have to wait approximately one month before their assets start generating returns.
Influence of major players on the network
Blockchain analyst Ember CN reported on January 9 about BitMine's activities. In the past 30 days, the company transferred over 1 million ETH into the Proof-of-Stake system. In monetary terms, this amount exceeds $3.2 billion.
The one-time placement is approximately a quarter of BitMine's treasury. As a result, the entry queue has grown to 1.7 million ETH. This is the highest level since 2023.
The surge in activity is also fueled by the launch of regulated financial products in the U.S. Last week, Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF and the 21Shares fund distributed their first reward rounds. The payouts proved that traditional investment instruments can successfully pass protocol earnings to shareholders.
Declining yields don't scare investors
Institutional momentum persists even amid significant reductions in staking rewards.
According to the Validator Queue service, the annual percentage rate (APR) at the beginning of the year dropped to a historical low of 2.54%. As of the publication date, the figure has slightly recovered to 2.85%. However, last year the average yield exceeded 3%.
Statistics confirm investors' willingness to lock funds despite declining rates. Major market participants prioritize being present on the network over short-term profits.
Despite the influx of regulated American entities, control over staking remains in the hands of several key leaders.
The Dune Analytics platform provides a detailed breakdown of market shares. The decentralized autonomous organization Lido DAO holds a dominant position with a 24% share. Next comes the exchange Binance, which controls 9.15% of assets. The Ether.fi protocol holds 6.3%.
The largest American trading platform, Coinbase, manages a share of 5.08%.
An important factor remains the presence of anonymous participants. Data shows that unmarked organizations control around 27% of the total staked volume. A significant portion of Ethereum's security infrastructure is in the hands of unidentified operators. These entities are not subject to regulatory requirements that apply to public companies such as BitMine.
