BitMine and ETFs Create Month‑Long Bottleneck in Ethereum Staking

Beincrypto reports Ethereum’s staking system is being strained by a surge of institutional participation, with firms such as BitMine and newly launched staking ETFs swelling the entry queue.

On January 9 blockchain analyst Ember CN said BitMine moved more than 1 million ETH (over $3.2 billion) into Ethereum’s proof-of-stake system over the prior 30 days, roughly a quarter of its corporate treasury, and helped push the entry queue to about 1.7 million ETH, its highest level since 2023. The Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF and 21Shares’ TETH distributed their first rewards over the past week, showing these products can pass protocol-level earnings to shareholders. The influx has created a logistical bottleneck that forces new participants to wait roughly a month before staked assets begin earning returns. Validator queue data showed staking APR fell to a low of 2.54% earlier this year before recovering slightly to 2.85% as of press time, down from a year-average above 3.0%.

Staking power remains concentrated, according to Dune Analytics: Lido DAO controls about 24% of staked Ether, Binance 9.15%, Ether.fi 6.3% and Coinbase 5.08%, while untagged entities hold roughly 27% of the network’s stake, leaving a significant share of Ethereum’s security infrastructure in the hands of unidentified operators that are not subject to the same compliance requirements as firms like BitMine.

Key Topics

Crypto, Bitmine, Ethereum, Grayscale Etf, Lido Dao, Binance