Ethereum Staking Hits Record 43.80 Million Tokens as Yields Fall
Key Facts
The amount of staked Ethereum rose to a record 43.80 million tokens at the end of the third quarter of 2026, according to Bitwise's staking report published on October 20. That balance represented 35.9% of the currency's total supply, as staking inflows continued during the period. Net quarterly inflows reached 1.99 million Ethereum tokens, according to the company's fourth-quarter report, which covers third-quarter performance. The increase in staked balances coincided with a decline in the average gross annual yield to 2.63%, from 2.81% in the previous quarter. That yield is calculated before operator fees, which are excluded from the gross rate cited in the report.
Bitwise attributed Ethereum's lower yield to the increase in staked balances and a decline in rewards from the execution layer. In a breakdown of validator rewards during the quarter, Figment said the consensus layer accounted for about 95% of total rewards. The execution layer accounted for the remaining 5%, according to the company's report on Ethereum validators. Alongside changes in rewards, operating validators carries the risk of having part of the staked balance deducted as a penalty, a risk Figment said mitigation cannot eliminate entirely. It added in its report that "slashing risk is inherent in operating a validator."
On Solana, the network ended the quarter with 69% of total supply staked, according to Bitwise. The gross staking yield stood at 5.99%, down from 6.38% in the second quarter, though it remained above Ethereum's yield over the same period. Blockdaemon's breakdown of Solana yields showed the inflationary voting rewards component falling from 5.47% in July to 4.96% in September. On issuance policy, an acceleration in the annual reduction of the inflation rate from 15% to 30% was approved, according to the company. The activation date for the change had not been set when its report was published, leaving implementation to a later stage following approval.
Both networks saw validator counts decline, but Bitwise attributed the decreases to different causes. On Ethereum, the number of validator records fell from about 1.1 million to 881,000 by the end of the quarter. This came as operators consolidated their records following the Pectra upgrade, according to the report, without the consolidation implying a decline in the Ethereum balance backing those records. On Solana, the validator count fell from 696 to 659 in the quarterly comparison cited by the company. Bitwise attributed that decline to cost pressures facing validator operators on the network.
After the quarter ended, Ethereum's staking exit queue peaked at nearly 851,000 tokens on October 2, according to Figment. The company linked the increase to precautionary exits by validators associated with the infrastructure supporting MetaMask's staking service. In a development concerning access to the service, Interactive Brokers announced that eligible clients could stake Ethereum. The company said access was available through the staking dashboard within its U.S. entity's Client Portal. The move made the service available to eligible clients through a traditional multi-asset broker, alongside the network's operational developments.
The quarterly staking developments came during a broad cryptocurrency market rally, according to a separate review published by Bitwise. The company's index of major cryptocurrencies rose 46.39% during the third quarter, with all its constituents posting double-digit gains. On Ethereum issuance, the Ethereum Foundation's protocol team classified the graded issuance burn proposal among those not recommended for inclusion in the Hegota upgrade. The team stressed that issuance policy requires a community process broader than the process of defining the scope of a technical upgrade. It said in its clarification that "issuance policy is a matter for a broader process within the ecosystem than simply defining the scope of an upgrade."
On upcoming upgrades, the announced scope of Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade includes a proposal to increase capacity for validator exits and consolidations, with implications for staking liquidity. In its testing announcement dated September 17, the Ethereum Foundation said activation dates on the Hoodi network and mainnet had yet to be finalized. On Solana, Figment said the new Alpenglow consensus design went live on the testnet on September 24. The design moved to the development network the following day, as part of the stages preceding its mainnet launch. According to Figment, a mainnet launch follows after a monitoring period.