More than 50% of Ethereum’s supply is now tied to staking, the first time the network has reached that level in its 11-year history, according to Santiment. The shift means a larger share of ETH is locked in the proof-of-stake system instead of remaining available for trading in the open market.
The reported figure stands at 50.18%. Under Ethereum’s PoS design, staked ETH enters a one-way vault used to secure the chain and cannot be traded while locked. Those coins return to circulation only after validators exit. Santiment added that the percentage is based on Ethereum issued before the burn mechanism, while about 120 million ETH are still actively circulating today.
Mainnet staking and queue pressure remain elevated
On the mainnet itself, 36.9 million ETH are currently locked, equal to 30.41% of total supply. The network has 966,134 active validators. At the same time, the staking queue is close to historic highs, with about 3.8 million ETH waiting to enter and an estimated wait time of 67 days. The record was 4.1 million ETH on February 12.
Exit demand is much lighter. Only 6,112 ETH are waiting to unlock, with an estimated release time of roughly two minutes. The contrast is sharp: long waits to get in, almost no wait to get out. That points to strong current demand for staking participation.
BitMine shows the scale of institutional staking income
Corporate treasury activity is adding to that picture. BitMine recently bought 45,759 ETH, lifting its reserves to 4.3 million ETH. Of that amount, 3 million ETH are already staked. At current yields, those locked holdings could generate about $176 million in annual passive income.
The numbers show why institutions are paying closer attention to staking. For large holders, ETH is not only a price exposure trade; locked positions can also produce a measurable yield stream.
BlackRock prepares ETHB with staking built into the structure
BlackRock is also moving into this segment through its planned iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, trading under the ticker ETHB. The fund intends to stake between 70% and 95% of assets depending on market conditions, with a target average annual yield of 3%. That sets it apart from the firm’s ETHA ETF, which tracks ETH price exposure.
Its fee schedule includes a 0.25% sponsor fee, reduced to 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion in assets. In addition, the sponsor and Coinbase Prime will take 18% of gross staking income. The fund also plans to keep 5% to 30% of ETH unstaked to maintain operating liquidity.
ERC-5564 enters the discussion on programmable privacy
Beyond staking, analyst Merlijn The Trader said Ethereum is adding privacy infrastructure through ERC-5564. The proposal enables stealth payments that hide the link between sender and receiver while preserving auditability on a public chain.
He described it as neither privacy coins nor obfuscation, but programmable privacy inside a public system. In that framing, Ethereum’s development path is widening to include more advanced transaction privacy without removing transparency from the network.