Ethereum staking has reached a record 41.7 million ETH, locking more than one-third of the cryptocurrency's circulating supply despite a sharp decline in its market price. According to a CryptoQuant chart shared by Bitfinex on August 10, the figure represents approximately 34.5% of Ethereum's circulating supply of around 120.7 million ETH. The staking deposits remained near 36 million ETH through late 2025 before beginning a sustained increase in February, with growth continuing through the second quarter and accelerating again between June and August. As reported by Bitfinex, ETH has fallen from approximately $3,400 in January to $1,900 during the same period, yet validators and long-term holders continued locking tokens even as spot-market conditions weakened. This represents an increase of approximately 5.5 million ETH in less than seven months from the 36.2 million ETH staked in January.
The continued increase in staking has renewed questions about Ethereum's issuance structure and whether the network's reward curve encourages excessive staking. EIP-8363, known as Tapered Issuance Burn, would burn a growing share of consensus-layer rewards as the staking ratio rises, with the mechanism removing issuance-based rewards when approximately half of Ethereum's supply is staked. Under the proposal, validator rewards are set to decrease in proportion to increases in staking ratios, with annual issuance beginning to trend downward at a rate lower than the present reward structure. At the current 33% staking ratio, the proposal would eventually approach an issuance rate of less than 0.8%. The proposal's authors argue that the current system continues rewarding additional deposits even after they provide limited security benefits, while SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom has opposed the plan, arguing that native yield supports Ethereum's institutional appeal and acts as a benchmark for returns across decentralized finance.
Corporate treasury companies have become major participants in Ethereum staking, with BitMine having approximately 5.07 million ETH staked as of the latest data, equal to about 85% of its Ethereum holdings. The company generated $45.7 million from staking and validation during the quarter ended May 31, with Chairman Tom Lee projecting that annual rewards could reach $284 million if BitMine stakes its entire ETH treasury, although returns depend on yields and validator conditions. BitMine has now added another 7,391 ETH while maintaining its staking position, bringing its total holdings to 5.81 million ETH. SharpLink has also committed most of its Ethereum treasury to staking, with its strategy continuing to generate ETH rewards even as lower market prices contributed to a $394.3 million second-quarter loss. Ethereum validators receive newly issued ETH for proposing blocks, attesting to transactions, and supporting network consensus, with part of that income being returned to staking, creating a compounding effect even when ETH's dollar price falls.
Staking has become more accessible through regulated investment products in the United States, with Grayscale distributing about $9.4 million in ETH staking proceeds to eligible ETHE shareholders in January, marking the first such payout by a U.S.-listed Ethereum product. Morgan Stanley has also added staking provisions to its proposed Ethereum ETF, with its filing showing that 3.64 million ETH was waiting to enter validation as of May 18, implying an activation delay of approximately 63 days. Continued institutional participation could remove more ETH from liquid markets, though staking does not guarantee price appreciation and the divergence between record deposits and ETH's decline shows that supply constraints can be outweighed by broader selling pressure. The proposed EIP-8363 changes would particularly impact institutional staking yields, as the reward reduction will affect companies like BitMine that have built substantial staking positions.
