The Merge is expected to take place on September 15. This is when Ethereum will finally transition from a Proof of Work to a Proof of Stake (PoS) system. This upgrade will increase Ethereum’s security and reduce energy consumption by 99%.

Ethereum first enabled staking in the fourth Quarter of 2020. ¹ Direct staking into Ethereum requires exactly 32 ETH. Staked ETH is locked into the staking contract until Ethereum allows withdrawals. It is estimated that withdrawals out of the staking contract will be allowed sometime in 2023.

In this two-part article, I present data on ETH staking transactions.

1. In part one, I look at ETH staked directly into the Ethereum 2.0 smart contract.
2. In part two, I show ETH staking transactions using RocketPool (a liquid staking provider).

Part 1 - Direct Staking Transactions

The chart above shows the daily sum of all ETH staked, as well as the daily number of distinct staking addresses.

A total of 6.8M ETH is staked into Ethereum 2.0. This includes ETH staked by individual node operators, as well as ETH staked by third-party liquid staking providers.

Over 72400 distinct addresses have staked ETH.

While almost all direct staking transactions are valued at exactly 32 ETH, our data shows 31 transactions valued below this amount.

I have no explanation for these staking transactions valued below 32 ETH. These thirty-one transactions represent a tiny minority of staking transactions.

Part 2 - Liquid Staking: An Alternative to Direct Staking.

Direct staking has two important drawbacks. First, it locks up ETH until Ethereum allows withdrawals from the staking contract. Second, it requires 32 ETH (currently valued at approximately 50,000 USD).

Users can stake ETH without owning the entire 32 ETH thanks to liquid staking protocols like LIDO and Rocketpool. Additionally, stakers obtain liquid tokens (such as LIDO's stETH or Rocketpool's rETH), thus maintaining the liquidity of their staked assets.

RocketPool is a well-known liquid staking provider.

Technical Notes:

1.* The total amount of ETH staked with RocketPool does not exactly match the data on RocketPool’s website. RocketPool allows an indirect form of unstaking. The RocketPool protocol enables rETH to be traded for ETH that other stakers have deposited, but hasn't yet been used by a Node Operator. I substracted these rETH trades from the total amounts staked, but the net amounts still does not exactly match what is shown on RocketPool’s website.

2.All staking amounts shown in Part 1 (Direct Staking) include ETH staked by liquid staking providers. All staked ETH is sent to same smart contract.

All writing is my own.

Twitter: @streamust

The median amount of a ETH staked into RocketPool is 0.46 ETH, while the average transaction is worth 11.8 ETH. This indicates that there are several staking transactions of less than 0.5 ETH.

The largest staking transaction ever was for 1,990 ETH, and the smallest one was for 0.01 ETH.

The bar chart above shows daily net ETH staked using RocketPool.

RocketPool allows an indirect form of unstaking. The RocketPool protocol enables rETH to be traded for ETH that other stakers have deposited, but hasn't yet been used by a Node Operator.

Because of this, certain days on the chart have negative values.

RocketPool has enabled the staking of over 200,000 ETH.

RocketPool users stake a wide range of ETH amounts. Many users decide to stake between 0.1 to 0.2 ETH or between 10 to 20 ETH.

Takeaways

• On September 15, Ethereum will switch from a Proof of Work (PoW) system to a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism.
• Staking on Ethereum became available in Q4 2020. Since then, 6.8 million ETH have been staked by over 72,000 different addresses.
• Staking directly into the smart contract requires exactly 32 ETH. Direct staking also locks up ETH until Ethereum allows unstaking.
• These drawbacks have been resolved by liquid staking providers like RocketPool. When staking with RocketPool, staked ETH is traded for a liquid token called rETH. Users can also stake amounts smaller than 32 ETH.

While direct staking requires 32 ETH, the median staking transaction into RocketPool is 0.46 ETH. This makes staking easily accessible to the masses. Many users stake between 0.1 and 0.2 ETH.

RocketPool has enbaled the staking of over 200,000 ETH by over 8,000 distinct users.

Sources:

Direct ETH staking requires exactly 32 ETH.

RocketPool has enabled the staking of more than 200,000 ETH from over 8,000 distinct stakers *.