ETH deposits equal the amount of third-round withdrawals post the Shapella Upgrade

The equal amount of ETH withdrawals and deposits in the third round post the Shapella upgrade indicates that most withdrawals might have been re-staked

By Shashank Bhardwaj

2 min read

Published: Apr 27, 2023 11:25:04 AM IST

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After the Shapella Upgrade on the Ethereum network went live in April, the third round of staking withdrawals witnessed the crypto exchange Kraken responsible for the highest withdrawals of a major portion of ETH.

Surprisingly, the amount of ETH deposits has almost equalled that of the staking withdrawals since most withdrawals could have been re-staked.

A round currently takes about four and a half days to process partial rewards and withdrawals.

Post the Shapella Upgrade, the third round of Ethereum staking withdrawals on April 24, 61608 ETH was withdrawn in principal and rewards. But along with the withdrawals, 63009 ETH deposits were made. The staked ETH balance has witnessed zero change in the last 24 hours as a result.

Before the third round of withdrawals, the total amount of staked ETH was at an all-time high, with 18,796,663 ETH worth over $34 billion, while currently, the number is around 14.5 percent of the total ETH supply. The total supply has also declined after the EIP-1559 burning mechanism by 114,077 ETH worth $209 million.

Kraken had to halt its ETH staking services in February after facing enforcement action and being accused of selling unregistered securities. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission had imposed a fine on it. Thus, most of the early withdrawals of ETH were from the wallets of Kraken, while 2.3 percent of the total ETH eligible to be withdrawn still stands from Kraken. $1.16 billion worth of ETH was queued up to be withdrawn, which amounts to 632,651 ETH.

After the Shapella upgrade, Vitalik Buterin said, “We’re in a stage where the hardest and the fastest parts of the Ethereum protocol’s transition are basically over.” But while there were some concerns regarding a huge exit of staked ETH after the Shapella upgrade, they have been laid to rest after 1.07 million ETH was deposited after withdrawals of 1.66 million ETH.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash