This article is reprinted with permission from W3C DAO, author: Martin, copyright belongs to the original author.
The Ethereum PoS network is currently witnessing an epic "tug-of-war." The latest data shows that as of August 19, the amount of ETH exiting the Ethereum PoS network has surged to 910,461 coins, valued at approximately $3.91 billion, setting a historical record in terms of coin-based value. These ETH waiting to exit need to queue for about 15 days and 18 hours to complete the unstaking process.
At the same time, the amount of ETH queued to join the Ethereum network is approximately 268,217 coins, valued at $1.14 billion, with an activation delay of about 4 days and 15 hours, creating a significant gap of nearly 650,000 ETH between inflows and outflows. The market's long and short forces are engaged in a fierce battle within the Ethereum staking pool, and this seemingly contradictory capital game reveals deep divisions in the market regarding Ethereum's future.
The explosive rise in Ethereum's price has become a key factor stimulating profit-taking. From a low of $1,386 in April 2025, it has surged to $4,788, with ETH prices skyrocketing over 350%, nearing a historical high of $4,868.
Faced with such a surge, early stakers have chosen to unstake to lock in profits. On August 17, a whale user transferred 10,819 ETH (approximately $47.79 million) to Kraken exchange in one go, including 564 ETH in staking interest, with an overall floating profit exceeding $20.68 million.
Moreover, the decoupling of liquid staking tokens (LST) from ETH prices has exacerbated the crisis. In July, the discount rate of stETH to ETH once reached 0.4%, creating an arbitrage opportunity.
Some traders chose to buy staking tokens at low prices in the secondary market, earning the price difference by redeeming full ETH after unstaking. The liquidity strategy on the EtherFi platform alone has accumulated about 20,000 ETH in exit applications.
The three major platforms, Lido, EtherFi, and Coinbase, have respectively dominated the wave of unstaking with 285,000, 134,000, and 113,000 ETH.
- Regulatory Easing Ignites Institutional Enthusiasm
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. SEC clearly stated that "ETH staking does not violate securities laws," completely removing barriers for institutional participation. Since then, institutional staking delegation has surged over 100%, and validator queue times have increased by 360%. Asset management giants like BlackRock have also submitted applications to the SEC, planning to add staking features to their spot ETH ETF, with an expected annual yield of 3%-5%.
- The Rise of Public Companies' "ETH Treasury" Strategy
BitMine Immersion: Cumulative holdings exceed 1.5 million ETH, with a current market value of approximately $6.53 billion, making it the largest corporate holder of Ethereum globally. It currently holds and actively increases its ETH stake, aiming to enhance shareholder value through staking returns.
SharpLink Gaming: Since transitioning to an ETH asset strategy in May, it has accumulated 728,800 ETH, with a current market value of approximately $3.12 billion, becoming one of the largest corporate holders of Ethereum.
The Ether Machine: Cumulative holdings of 345,400 ETH, with a current market value of approximately $1.48 billion, increased its holdings by 15,000 ETH on Ethereum's tenth anniversary, highlighting its strategic commitment.
- Continuous Infusion of ETF Funds
The U.S. spot ETH ETF has been continuously attracting capital since its launch:
BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), holdings: 3.6 million ETH, market value: approximately $15.66 billion (calculated at an ETH price of approximately $4,350), market position: the largest Ethereum ETF globally, accounting for 60% of total holdings across all Ethereum ETFs, with assets under management (AUM) exceeding $10 billion, setting a record for a single-day net inflow of $1.79 billion.
Grayscale Ethereum Trust, holdings: 2 million ETH, market value: approximately $8.7 billion, latest update: over $730 million net inflow in the past week, with a cumulative inflow of $7.3 billion in 2025, recently attracting institutional allocations due to expectations of staking features.
Fidelity Ethereum Fund, holdings: 793,600 ETH (approximately 15% of the market share), market performance: set a historical peak with a single-day net inflow of $210 million, ranking second in net inflow for the third week of July 2025, pushing the total AUM of Ethereum ETFs to over $20 billion.
Institutional funds have become the ultimate arbitrators in this tug-of-war. In the past half month, institutional investors have increased their holdings by over 1.83 million ETH, completely covering the scale of unstaking.
The coexistence of exits and entries is a hallmark of the maturity of the Ethereum ecosystem—early investors cashing out profits and institutional funds' long-term allocations form a dynamic balance. This capital turnover essentially represents the market's vote on Ethereum's status as "financial infrastructure": when Wall Street bets real money on its settlement layer value, the short-term fluctuations will ultimately give way to a new growth narrative.
Related: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) ETF funds have seen outflows of nearly $1 billion, with prices declining simultaneously.
Original article: “Ethereum Tug-of-War”
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
