Ethereum faces congestion for validators to enter and begin staking in the protocol. According to data from Wenmerge, an information dashboard, more than 90,000 validators are waiting to provide protocol validation services on Ethereum. This means a validator entering the queue today must wait more than 46 days to be activated and begin its tasks.
Ethereum Validator Queue Grows Congested
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is experiencing a boom in entities trying to provide validation services for its blockchain. The number of validators now waiting in line to start these services on top of Ethereum is over 90,000, with the queue experiencing a rise since the Shapella update, which opened the way for Ethereum withdrawals.
This growth in the number of validators waiting in the queue also determines an increase in the waiting times for such validators to start their tasks. If a validator applies to be activated now, it will have to wait at least 46 days to provide validation services for the Ethereum blockchain.
According to reports, this is related to the staking strategy that Celsius, the former cryptocurrency lender, is executing. On June 1, Tom Wan, an onchain analyst from 21.co, explained that if Celsius added all of its ether to validate, queue wait times would increase to more than 45 days. By June 4, almost 93% of Celsius’ received ether was staked.
In contrast, no validators were waiting in queue to leave the protocol. This allows validators entering the exit queue to withdraw staked assets almost immediately.
Interest in Ethereum Staking Expected to Keep Growing
However, even with this issue, the interest in Ethereum staking is predicted to keep rising. While some expected Ethereum to be affected negatively by the Shapella upgrade, other financial institutions like JPMorgan predicted it would increase the level of Ethereum staked due to the availability of partial and complete validator withdrawals.
In February, a report written by analysts led by JPMorgan Managing Director of Global Market Strategy Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou stated:
The validator number could increase from 0.5 million to 2.2 million and the yield would fall from 7.4% current to around 5%.
Ethereum’s percentage of assets staked — 15.82% — is four times lower than what the report considers the average on similar proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus chains like Solana or Cosmos, which have 60% of their native tokens staked for validation purposes.
What do you think about the more than 90,000 validators waiting to be activated on Ethereum? Tell us in the comments section below.
