Ethereum staking hits records as nearly 30% of supply locked

Beincrypto reports that January 2026 saw Ethereum staking activity reach multiple all-time highs, with staked ETH at 35.9 million — about 29.6% of circulating supply — reducing liquid supply and strengthening network security.

ValidatorQueue data showed staked ETH rising from 35.5 million to 35.9 million after a prolonged sideways phase since August, even as ETH fell more than 30% since that month. As of January 15 the staking queue surpassed 2.5 million ETH while the unstaking queue dropped to zero. Arkham reported that Tom Lee’s Bitmine staked an additional 186,500 ETH, bringing its total to 1.53 million (valued at over $5 billion), and that Tom Lee now stakes more than 1% of Ethereum’s supply. SharpLink (SBET) said staking has generated over $32 million since June, with accumulated rewards of 11,157 ETH, and user activity on Ethereum also hit an all-time high driven by stablecoin transactions and DeFi use.

Analysts forecast that these on-chain signals could help ETH break above the $3,450 resistance and push toward $4,000, an outlook said to be supported by a short-term cup-and-handle pattern. The price, however, has remained below $3,500 for the past two months, so whether a breakout will occur is not certain.

Key Topics

Crypto, Ethereum, Staked Eth, Validatorqueue, Tom Lee, Bitmine