More than $560 million worth of ETH has been deposited into Ethereum’s staking contract over the last two days. That is according to recent learning, which records 220,000 ETH was placed therein between May 25-27.
The endgame for ETH, as it stands, is the inbound 2.0 upgrade but that might be well over a year out. In the meantime, however, various sums have been deposited for staking purposes over the last several months. Per the report, the amount of staked ETH currently stands at 5.2 million ETH, which was worth around $13 billion based on the price of Ethereum at the time of writing.
Folks Don’t Appear To Be Apprehensive Over Staking Ethereum
Ethereum had rallied to $4,314.61 in mid-May but has since suffered a dip, falling as low as $1,841.02. The world’s second-largest currency trades at $2,494 yet the prospects for a complete recovery aren’t all that certain just yet.
The staked Ethereum has been taken out of circulation – there’s 116,062,870 in current circulation – and cannot be considered as part of the currency used in the setting of its price as it will be locked until sometime after the move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake is complete.
The drop in Ethereum’s price doesn’t appear to have scared off persons willing to participate in staking, with north of 10,000 validators understood to be in line to deposit a total of 327,776 ETH (close to $1 billion). Of course, there are lots of people looking at the long game and holding on to their Ethereum despite current odds, it’s also likely that folks are buying large sums amid the dip and are keen on earning via staking, although both their assets and the dividends could be locked up for up to two years.
Ethereum Has Some Big Fans
Meanwhile, Ethereum is developing at a pace that has led Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone to speculate over the potential as it pertains to surpassing Bitcoin in market cap. Ether’s valuation has fallen 10.67% to $289 billion over the past week while Bitcoin’s also experienced a 12% drop.
Billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who is becoming a notable voice in the crypto space recently told CNBC he does not look at the speed and cost when it comes to the two cryptocurrencies but instead takes the blockchains’ developmental potential into account.
Cuban also announced having made an investment in proof-of-stake coin Polygon a few days ago.
