Following the implementation of the Shanghai upgrade, which facilitated the withdrawal of staked Ethereum (ETH), a growing number of individuals are opting to secure their coins in beacon deposit contracts. This is evident from the notable surge in staked Ethereum since the upgrade, resulting in the establishment of a fresh record.
To be more precise, the quantity of Ethereum staked has achieved an unprecedented peak, surpassing 25.8 million ETH. As per the recent data disclosed in a tweet by CryptoRank, a prominent blockchain and cryptocurrency industry analytics platform, this substantial amount is presently valued at over $48 billion.
Following the highly anticipated upgrade enabling validators to withdraw their staked tokens, the Ethereum (ETH) network has achieved a significant milestone in its deposit contract balance due to the increasing interest in staking.
In fact, since April 12, users have deposited over 4.4 million ETH, propelling the deposit contract balance beyond the $40 billion mark after the implementation of the Shanghai upgrade. These figures were reported by the cryptocurrency analytics platform CryptoRank on May 23.
An important observation is that the balance of the Ethereum deposit contract surpassed the $40 billion mark towards the end of May. This significant increase indicates a notable upward trend following the introduction of a crucial feature that was absent during Ethereum’s transition from the proof-of-work (PoW) to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism after the Merge upgrade.
Analyzing Ethereum’s Price Performance
At the time of reporting, Ethereum was being traded at a price of $1,885.63. This reflects a 2.08% rise in the past 24 hours, a 0.24% increase over the previous seven days, and a 0.80% upward movement based on its monthly chart. These figures are based on the most recent data obtained on June 30th.
In a recent report by Finbold on June 27, it was highlighted that the wealthiest non-exchange Ethereum addresses have been increasing their holdings, while the top exchange addresses have reached record lows, approaching levels seen during the genesis phase. This trend indicates concerns regarding potential lawsuits targeting crypto exchanges.
Notably, following legal action taken by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against cryptocurrency trading platforms Coinbase and Binance, there has been a noticeable shift in digital assets moving away from these exchanges. This includes Bitcoin (BTC), the prominent decentralized finance (DeFi) asset.