Thomas Brunner, head of custody and staking at Sygnum Bank, said on July 31 that Ethereum’s validator entry queue has risen to about 2.5 million ETH, with new stakers now waiting roughly 43 days for activation.
He said the figure should not be treated as an outright bullish signal. In Brunner’s view, the backlog reflects institutional demand, but it is also shaped by how the protocol works.
The queue does not measure only fresh staking demand
Brunner said the Dencun upgrade cut the daily validator entry allowance to about 57,600 ETH, and the Pectra upgrade did not increase that limit.
Pectra also allows a single validator to hold up to 2,048 ETH and enables auto-compounding. Large operators are adding stake to existing validators, and even an additional 1 ETH has to enter the same queue as a brand-new staker.
That means part of the current backlog comes from reconfiguration and compounding of already staked ETH, rather than entirely from new ETH entering staking for the first time.
Brunner says the exit queue sends a clearer signal
By contrast, the exit queue is largely empty, which Brunner described as the more direct sign of confidence.
“Almost no one is unstaking, and that reflects real conviction; the entry queue measures both demand and infrastructure mechanics,” he said.
About 41.2 million ETH is currently staked, equal to 33.8% of circulating supply.
Institutions are still participating, but privacy remains a constraint
Brunner also said institutions have not stopped participating because of weaker ETH prices. Many now treat staking yield as a native feature of holding ETH.
He added, however, that validator addresses, deposit addresses, and withdrawal credentials can all be tracked. In his view, privacy remains the main obstacle to institutions increasing their staking allocations.