Ether Staking Frenzy Hits 35 Million: Liquidity Drains as Big Players Lock In

Record-Breaking Staking Numbers Shake Up Ethereum

Holy smokes, the Ethereum world is on fire! We've just hit a mind-blowing 35 million Ether staked, and it's causing a major liquidity squeeze. Investors are ditching short-term trades for some sweet, passive yield. And guess what? Corporate treasuries, with trailblazers like SharpLink leading the charge, are fueling this craze like never before.

Brace yourselves, folks. Dune Analytics dropped a bombshell: we've smashed past 35 million staked ETH this week alone. That's a new all-time high for Ethereum's proof-of-stake network, and it's rewriting the rules of the game.

Get this: over 28% of all the circulating Ether, which is more than 120 million tokens, is now locked up tight. With a quarter of all Ether chilling in staking contracts, the liquid supply on exchanges is evaporating faster than you can say "blockchain." And it's not stopping anytime soon, as more and more public companies and big-shot institutions are choosing to hold onto their ETH like a dragon guarding its treasure.

Who's Hoarding All This ETH?

Ethereum staking has been climbing steadily ever since the network flipped the switch to proof-of-stake back in late 2022. But hold onto your hats, because the last few months have seen a skyrocketing surge. CryptoQuant's June 18 report blew our minds: over half a million ETH got staked in just the first half of June, pushing the total over that magical 35 million mark.

Dune Analytics spilled the beans: Lido, the reigning champ of liquid staking, is now sitting pretty with 8.75 million ETH, which is roughly a quarter of all staked tokens. Centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance are right behind, collectively validating another 15% of the network.

But here's the real game-changer: it's not just happening on-chain. Off-chain, corporate balance sheets are quietly turning into ETH accumulation machines. These companies are treating Ether like a long-term treasury asset, not just some tech investment.

Check this out: SharpLink Gaming, a Nasdaq-listed beast, went all-in on June 13, snagging a whopping $463 million worth of ETH. That makes them the second-largest known holder, right behind the Ethereum Foundation. And they didn't stop there—they staked over 95% of their total holdings to rake in some yield while beefing up Ethereum's network security.

For companies like SharpLink, it's a no-brainer. ETH offers a sweet 3% staking yield, and the SEC's May 2024 guidance gave the green light for institutional players to join the party. They made it crystal clear: protocol-level staking is not a security, so it's open season for the big dogs.