Staked Ether exceeds 30% of ETH total supply

Ethereum ($ETH) is facing a mix of relatively low prices and increased usage. The network is carrying a near-record level of transactions, while over 30% of the supply is locked.

Ethereum ($ETH) keeps building up a supply crunch, based on whale holdings and increased staking. Currently, around 30% of the supply is staked, with highly active inflows in the past few months. More than 35M $ETH is staked on the Beacon chain, an all-time high. The trend for staking may continue, as ETFs are also allowed to include staking for passive income.

$ETH staking picked up again in Q2, leading to a record value locked of over 35M $ETH, or around 30% of the available supply. | Source: Beacon Chain

After some outflows from the staking contract during the market panic in March and April, Ethereum staking returned to peak levels, not seen since September 2024. $ETH staking became one of the most reliable markers for long-term confidence in the network’s value.

Following the Pectra upgrade, staking also accelerated as large-scale whales could deposit more $ETH at a time to build their stake. As a result, the total value staked on Ethereum is at an all-time high.

The Ethereum network carries over $61B locked in DeFi protocols, including lending, liquid staking, and DEX liquidity pools. $ETH remains valuable as collateral, and whales are in no hurry to sell.

More $ETH is wrapped in multiple protocols and is taken off the open market. Whales have also shown increased activity, adding on average 800K $ETH per day for the previous week, while only 16K new $ETH are produced each week. Whales are showing unprecedented levels of accumulation, boosting the narrative of a long-awaited price breakout.

$ETH exchange reserves remain scarce, at around 19M tokens. ETFs are also actively buying, with BlackRock recently absorbing the stake sold by Grayscale. $ETH is also becoming attractive to corporate buyers as a collateral asset.

The Ethereum network also awaits a new upgrade, which could further scale and speed up transactions. Despite the relatively high price compared to other networks, Ethereum remains a key platform for DeFi. Based on smart contract activity, the network’s main use cases are $ETH transfers, while USDT and USDC remain some of the busiest smart contracts.

$ETH remains undervalued with volatile trading

The current status of $ETH is raising expectations for a catch-up rally. Trading under $2,500, $ETH is seen as undervalued, despite the peak on-chain activity. Transactions have been climbing for Ethereum throughout 2025, reaching a higher baseline, with the occasional day of anomalous record activity.

Despite this, the $ETH market price remains close to its lows, still crashing after each breakout. In June, $ETH failed to reclaim the $3,000 level. The token is down around 5% in June, though Q2 may end with significant net gains. $ETH expanded by 31.8% in Q2, mostly driven by the peak gains in May.

The multiple bullish factors for $ETH are still not enough to spark a more decisive rally. In June, there is still an expectation for a breakout, where $ETH can rally as high as $10,000. Even without a rally, Ethereum has shown it is not a dead chain. Recently, the network drew in over $334M in daily net inflows from bridges, as value returned to the biggest liquidity hub.