Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, a leading on-chain analytics company, shared his thoughts on the progress of Ethereum (ETH) staking. He admits he was wrong about the effects of the Shapella hard fork.
Ethereum (ETH) staking ratio rises to 24% and continues to rise
The Ethereum (ETH) staking ratio, or the percentage of ETH coins locked in staking, reaches 24% and continues to grow. Meanwhile, only 11% of ETH supply is stored on centralized exchanges. The data was shared by Ki Young Ju on X today, January 18, 2024.
$ETH staking is now 24% of total supply, with only 11% on exchanges.
To be honest, I expected significant unstaking activity after the Shapella update, but the staking rate is still increasing.https://t.co/igWBQsJW8e pic.twitter.com/w8VoBV54PW
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) January 18, 2024
Therefore, it is safe to say that the overhyped Ethereum (ETH) Shapella update, which allowed stakers to withdraw their coins for the first time since December 2020, did not result in massive unstaking:
To be honest, I expected significant unstaking activity after the Shapella update, but the staking rate is still increasing.
The Shapella of Ethereum (ETH) was activated in April 2023. As the cryptocurrency markets were still dominated by bearish sentiment, analysts expected consecutive pullbacks and sell-offs of Ethereum (ETH).
The price of Ethereum (ETH) also managed to overcome this event without significant losses: As stakers withdrew 1 million Ether (ETH) in the first week after Shapella, the price of ETH fluctuated between $2,000 and $2,100.
Ethereum Staked (ETH) is mostly profitable, adds Ki Young Ju. While the realized price for staking inflows is $2,014, the current rate of ETH is $2,519. Thus, the average Ether “holding” is maintained at a significant profit of 25%.
According to data from Staking Rewards, the aggregate volume of the Ethereum (ETH) staking ecosystem is estimated at a whopping $72 billion, of which 4.25% is in APY.
Сardano (ADA) risks overtaking Solana (SOL)
At the same time, Ethereum (ETH)’s biggest competitors may be close to a historic “flippening.” Solana (SOL)’s staking ratio is plummeting. The indicator has lost more than 20% in the last week and has fallen below 67%.
Meanwhile, Cardano (ADA) staking ecosystem has gained 0.06% over the past seven days and is approaching 64%. At the same time, the USD-denominated staking volume of Solana (SOL) is more than 200% higher than that of Cardano (ADA).
Among all traditional altcoins, Mina Protocol (MINA) demonstrates the highest staking ratio: its stakers have captured over 91% of the circulating supply.
Aptos (APT) and Sui (SUI) follow the Mina (MINA) protocol with a staking ratio of 85%-86%.