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The Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract is the first massive element of its infrastructure. Future validators of ETH2 should deposit their stakes (32 ETH minimum) to it in order to "reserve seats" in proof of stake (PoS) Ethereum (ETH).
$13.1 billion locked by 165,000 validators
As reported by Glassnode Alerts, a Twitter account that indexes the most notable events across major blockchains reported that today, May 31, 2021, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract value has broken above its previous high.
At press time, 5,209,474 Ethers are transferred to the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract. Given that the current Ethereum (ETH) price is $2,529, this monstrous deposit equals $13.1 billion.
Automated service Eth2Validators registered more than 161,000 participants on Friday. Almost 95 percent of them are labeled "active" by analysts.
According to the Ethereum 2.0 information page on Etherscan explorer, a new validator joins ETH2 every 7-8 minutes. So, almost 4.5 percent of the entire Ethereum (ETH) supply is now allocated in its PoS deposit contract.
Resigning miners to blame?
In the final days of May 2021, the Ethereum 2.0 depositing process gained impressive momentum. It might be explained by two processes.
First, due to a 50 percent drop of the Ethereum (ETH) price, many small-sized holders decided to take the opportunity to join Ethereum 2.0 validation at a discount.
Also, as covered by U.Today previously, Ethereum (ETH) mining is on borrowed time. Researchers at the Ethereum Foundation announced that late Q4, 2021, is a "conservative" time frame for mining breakeven.