Ethereum staking inflows exceed withdrawals for the first time

Over the past 24 hours, the amount of deposits into Ethereum staking (94,968 ETH) for the first time since the activation of the Shapella hard fork surpassed withdrawals (27,076 ETH). On-chain data from Nansen show this.

The majority of deposits go to the Lido Finance protocol — 30.9%. Coinbase (12.8%) and Kraken (6.8%) follow.

In total, after the staking update, 472,000 ETH have been added. As of writing, users had already withdrawn about 1.06 million ETH.

A total of 18.68 million ETH are locked in the network, including rewards — this accounts for 14.5% of the coin’s circulating supply. 912,137 ETH are in the withdrawal queue. 

According to Token Unlocks data, withdrawals from staking amount to $61.6 million daily. The average purchase price of the locked coins is $2,137. 

Lookonchain analysts documented that the whale with the address satofishi.eth withdrew 15,886 ETH (~$33 million) from staking and transferred 1,420 ETH (~$3 million) to the crypto exchange Binance.

satofishi.eth (@satofishi) withdrew 15,886 $ETH($33M) and transferred 1,420 $ETH($3M) to #Binance 13 hrs ago.https://t.co/sIxwiLOQLj pic.twitter.com/58GLkSYm3W

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 18, 2023

In a discussion with The Block, Grayscale analysts Matt Maximo and Michael Zhao noted that withdrawals of ETH from staking are proceeding more slowly than expected. However, in their view, the volume of unlocked funds is set to continue rising in the future.

We believe that the short-term impact of the Shanghai upgrade on the price will be less significant than initially anticipated, due to fewer withdrawals and full exits of ETH. Looking ahead, we think this is a bullish event for Ethereum, as reducing staking risk could raise baseline demand for the asset,

— the experts added.

According to CoinGecko, ETH is trading at $2,106, up 0.9% on the day.

Binance will open withdrawals of ETH from staking on 19 April, at 5:00 (Kyiv/Moscow time).