Ethereum (ETH) staking has reached a record high of 27.95% of its total supply, reflecting significant growth in the liquid staking and restaking sectors. This surge comes despite a recent decline in ETH’s price.
Ethereum’s staking percentage has hit a new milestone, reaching 27.95% of the total ETH supply. This figure represents a rebound from a brief dip in late July when the staking percentage fell from 27.58% to 26.82% in a single day. Since then, staking has not only recovered but surpassed previous highs, with an increase of 1.9% since the launch of ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Remarkably, this increase in staking has occurred independently of ETH’s price movements. Despite a 30% drop in ETH’s price from around $4,090 in March to $2,900, the percentage of ETH staked has grown by approximately 2%, translating to an increase of roughly $7 billion in staked ETH value.
The rise in ETH staking has significantly impacted the liquid staking and restaking sectors. The total value locked (TVL) in liquid staking has surged by 60% year-to-date, climbing from $32.68 billion to $52.27 billion. More notably, the TVL in liquid restaking has skyrocketed by over 1,200%, jumping from $1.34 billion to $18.65 billion.
Among the leading protocols, Eigenlayer has seen its TVL grow more than tenfold, from $1.4 billion at the start of 2024 to $15.97 billion by the end of July. Renzo and EtherFi have also experienced remarkable growth, with Renzo’s TVL increasing 158-fold from $10.45 million to $1.65 billion and EtherFi’s TVL expanding 62-fold, from $98.24 million to $6.14 billion.
Interestingly, despite the surge in ETH staking, the governance token of Lido Finance (LDO), the largest ETH liquid staking protocol, has not benefited similarly. The LDO token’s price has fallen by 50% in 2024, resulting in a loss of approximately $930 million in market capitalization. This decline is attributed to LDO’s lack of direct value accrual mechanisms, such as fee switches or buybacks.
The latest trends in ETH staking and the growth of liquid restaking protocols underscore the evolving dynamics of the Ethereum ecosystem, with significant implications for the broader crypto market.
