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Bitwise report: Ethereum staking hits a record high of 43.8 million ETH, yield falls to 2.63%

Bitwise released The Bitwise Staking Report (Q4 2026) on October 20, 2026. The data showed that as of the end of the third quarter of 2026, ETH held by Ethereum active validators reached 43.8 million, accounting for 35.9% of total supply, a record high. Net staking inflows in the third quarter totaled 1.99 million ETH, marking six consecutive quarters of net inflows. The report also noted that as staking amounts rose and rewards were distributed across a larger base, the annualized staking yield fell from 2.81% in the second quarter to 2.63%. Of this, consensus rewards (new ETH issuance) contributed 2.53 percentage points, accounting for 96.3%, while priority fees and MEV contributed only 0.10 percentage points. The above yield figures are gross yields before operator fees.

For Solana, active staking increased to 440.5 million SOL, accounting for 69% of total supply. The gross staking yield fell from 6.38% to 5.99%, with nearly 90% still coming from token issuance and the rest from block rewards and tips. The report said that as staking amounts on both networks increased while usage costs fell, rewards also declined, and this trend was “largely by design.”

Lido Ecosystem Foundation institutional relations head Kean Gilbert said that funds usually need to meet redemptions within one or two days, while ETH unstaking can take weeks, so they will keep some unstaked assets. He estimated that the average staking ratio for related European products is only 50% to 60%. After custodians support staking, institutions can participate through existing custody relationships. Current discussion focuses on implementation issues such as validator dispersion, code audits, and the staking ratio of funds. Liquid staking tokens can provide an alternative exit channel, but actual selling still depends on market liquidity and price. The above data and comments do not include service provider fees in the actual yield received by customers.

Original sources:

  1. Title: The Bitwise Staking Report (Q4 2026) Publisher: Bitwise Investments (Kam Benbrik, Rafal Klich) Publication date: 2026-10-20 URL: https://bitwiseinvestments.com/crypto-market-insights/the-bitwise-staking-report-q4-2026 Nature of source: Official report page Verification: This read the page's full text key summary and the linked PDF content (as of 2026-10-31) Supporting content: 43.8 million ETH, 35.9% share, 1.99 million net inflow, 2.63% yield (96.3% from issuance); Solana 440.5 million, 5.99% gross yield

  2. Title: Bitwise-Staking-Report-Q4-2026.pdf Publisher: Bitwise Investments Publication date: 2026-10-19 (file timestamp) URL: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/static.bitwiseinvestments.com/Research/Bitwise-Staking-Report-Q4-2026.pdf Nature of source: Official document Verification: This read the relevant PDF sections (Overview, Staking demand and yield, Solana section) Supporting content: detailed quarterly comparison tables, yield composition, Bitmine staking growth background (from about 410,000 at the end of December 2025 to 5.07 million on September 27, 2026)

  3. Title: Ether Unstaking Can Take Weeks, Limiting Institutional Stakes Publisher: TokenPost (Enna Lee) Publication date: 2026-10-31 URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/45542 Nature of source: media report Verification: This read the full text Supporting content: Kean Gilbert's remarks on redemption time limits, the 50%-60% staking ratio of European products, and the dependence of liquid staking token exits on market liquidity; associated Bitwise data

ABAB AI Insight

Bitwise was founded by Hong Kim and Hunter Horsley in 2016-2017 and is positioned as a compliance-focused crypto asset manager, later becoming one of the issuers of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Report author Kam Benbrik is currently head of Onchain Research and previously had a background in validator operations and cross-chain research. This report continues its quarterly series, focusing on PoS network staking and protocol metrics rather than a pure price narrative.

On the capital path, institutional participation is a key driver of the continued net inflow into ETH staking. The report specifically names Bitmine Immersion Technologies (Chairman Tom Lee), whose staking amount rose from about 410,000 ETH at the end of December 2025 to 5.07 million on September 27, 2026, accounting for a relatively high share of its total holdings. The company later disclosed that it continued to increase staking and linked some return expectations to platforms such as MAVAN. The flow is: institutions hold ETH through ETFs or digital asset treasuries -> delegate to validators or self-run validation -> obtain rewards mainly driven by issuance, but actual deployment is constrained by the exit queue.

Compared with historical cases, after Ethereum's switch to PoS, it once went through a stage in which the staking ratio rose rapidly from a low base and yields compressed at the same time. The similarity this time is that the expansion of the staking base directly dilutes per-unit rewards (consensus rewards are distributed according to the square root of effective balance). The difference is that current growth comes more from institutional treasuries and ETFs than from retail native staking, and after the Pectra upgrade, validator consolidation reduced the number of validator records but did not reduce the actual staked ETH. Solana, due to its issuance schedule and higher staking ratio, also shows the same mechanism of higher staking and lower yield.

For specific entities, institutional products, especially European ETFs/ETPs, because of redemption liquidity requirements, are unable to stake all holdings, with an average of only 50%-60%, which limits their yield capture relative to native staking or liquid staking. Paths such as Lido that provide transferable receipts can ease exit time limits, but selling still depends on secondary-market depth and price. Indicators to watch include the actual staking ratio disclosed by institutional products and changes in exit queue length, rather than only the network's total staking amount.

ABAB News · Cognitive Law

  1. When staking reaches a record high, per-unit yields often decline because rewards are diluted across a larger base.

  2. A mismatch between institutional redemption time limits and the protocol exit queue will reduce the actual staking ratio of products.

  3. Yield dominated by issuance is more likely to keep compressing as the staking ratio rises.