Ethereum staking withdrawals have entered their third “round,” but Ether (ETH) staking deposits have almost equaled them, according to the data from the analytics platform Nansen.
Ethereum staking withdrawals started ramping up for the third time on April 24 and into April 25. According to Nansen, the crypto exchange Kraken was responsible for a large portion of these withdrawals.
A “round” refers to the number of days taken to process partial withdrawals and rewards. Nansen says it currently takes just under four and a half days.
The last large batch of withdrawals on April 24 was a total of 61,608 ETH in principal and reward withdrawals. However, at the same time, there were 63,009 ETH deposits, reported Nansen.
This has resulted in zero change in the balance of staked ETH over the past 24 hours.
In February, Kraken was forced to halt its Ethereum staking services following enforcement action and a fine by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused it of selling unregistered securities.
As a result, much of the ETH withdrawn early on has been from Kraken wallets as assets get returned to stakers. According to Nansen, 2.3% of the total withdrawable ETH remains from Kraken.
Nansen currently reports there is a total of 632,651 ETH waiting in the pending withdrawal queue. At current prices, this is valued at around $1.16 billion.
Third round of principal withdrawals underway
— Martin Lee | Nansen (@themlpx) April 24, 2023
Again largely Kraken, bringing their total principal withdrawn to almost 400k
Source: @nansen_ai pic.twitter.com/jVnnxnl5Jf
Before the last wave of withdrawals commenced, Nansen reported an all-time high in the total amount of staked ETH. The figure hit 18,796,663 ETH valued at around $34.5 billion on April 24.
Related: ETH staking passes withdrawals for the first time since Shapella upgrade
The current figure, which is slightly lower than this peak, represents 14.5% of the total Ether supply. Due to the EIP-1559 burning mechanism, the total supply has declined by 114,077 ETH (around $209 million) since the Merge in September.
Concerns over a massive exodus of staked Ethereum following the Shapella upgrade have been quashed. Token Unlocks is reporting that a total of 1.66 million ETH has been withdrawn since April 12, but 1.07 million ETH has been deposited, signaling there is still quite an appetite for staking Ether.
Magazine: District 9 director’s shooter, Decentraland red-light district battle: Web3 Gamer