The Ethereum staking ecosystem is undergoing significant structural changes as a major bottleneck has been resolved while new challenges emerge. After four long months, Ethereum's validator exit queue has completely cleared, marking the end of a period that began in September when Kiln, a major Ethereum staker, removed its entire validator fleet from the network following a security exploit.
The exit queue, a key security mechanism that limits the speed at which Ether can leave the network, had become severely clogged, delaying staking withdrawals by several weeks at its peak. This caused numerous headaches for Ethereum staking protocols and platforms that stake Ether for users. The backlog has now fully dissipated, with the exit wait time dropping dramatically from 44.25 days to just 14 minutes—a reduction of over 4,000 times.
Kirill Kutakov, co-founder of liquid staking protocol Stakewise, told DL News that "liquid staking tokens, receipt-like claims on staked Ether, are now less likely to trade at a discount" with the queue cleared. He explained that crypto markets price in the duration risk caused by a clogged exit queue, and spikes in queue length can amplify discounts to liquid staking tokens because buyers must wait longer to redeem them for underlying Ether.
While the exit queue has cleared, a new challenge has emerged on the entry side. The queue to spin up new Ethereum validators is increasing at a rapid pace, with participants now facing a multi-week wait to enter the network. Since December 24, the amount of Ether tokens entering the queue has jumped almost 300% to more than 1.7 million. New validators entering the queue must now wait over 30 days before joining the network, according to data from Beaconcha.in.
Crypto expert Dave pointed out on X that the ETH staking entry queue now shows an estimated wait of 25 days and 4 hours—a more than threefold increase from the previous 7.55-day wait time. This growing staking queue reflects a structural shift in how ETH is being held and deployed, with more ETH becoming locked in validation as long-term productive capital rather than liquid supply.
BitMine, the world's biggest Ethereum treasury firm, is responsible for a large portion of the new Ether being staked. The firm began staking on December 26 and has since locked up 936,512 Ether worth approximately $2.9 billion, according to on-chain records. BitMine chair Tom Lee has repeatedly expressed his intention to purchase and stake 5% of the entire Ether token supply, with the firm currently holding just over 4 million Ether (about 67% of its goal).
The cleared exit queue provides relief for protocols like Rocket Pool, the third largest Ethereum liquid staking protocol with $1.8 billion worth of staked Ether. Darren Langley, a general manager at Rocket Pool, noted that node operators will have a much easier time redeploying their validators following the protocol's upcoming Saturn upgrade planned for February 9.
Kutakov emphasized that "a free flowing exit queue is also a good thing for the broader DeFi ecosystem" because it's now simpler and cheaper for those engaged in leveraged Ethereum staking strategies to unwind their positions, leading to more efficient trading.
