10M ETH Staked in Ethereum Consensus Layer Contract
Formerly known as "Eth 2.0," Ethereum's "consensus layer" has amassed more than 10 million ETH staked.
Key Takeaways
- The Ethereum consensus layer—formerly referred to as "Ethereum 2.0"—deposit contract has surpassed 10 million Ethereum.
- The deposit contract allows for funds to be moved to Ethereum’s Beacon Chain.
- Additionally, nearly 2 million ETH have been burned since EIP-1559.
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The Ethereum consensus layer deposit contract has surpassed 10 million in ETH staked. This represents roughly 8% of the entire Ethereum supply.
Ethereum’s Roadmap
Momentum surrounding Ethereum’s switch from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake seems to be building.
There is now more than 10 million ETH in the consensus layer (formerly known as Ethereum 2.0) deposit contract, according to Etherscan. The deposit contract permits Ethereum to be moved from Ethereum’s mainnet to the Beacon Chain. At current prices, this staked ETH is worth approximately $26 billion.
The deposited ETH was contributed by around 309,000 validators, each of whom put up at least 32 ETH.
Proof-of-Stake is a blockchain consensus mechanism whereby validators stake funds on the network in order to confirm new transactions. Ethereum currently utilizes Proof-of-Work, like Bitcoin, which is where “miners” use computer hardware to solve complex mathematical equations to earn the right to validate transactions (and subsequently win block rewards for doing so).
The Beacon Chain is a parallel-running Proof-of-Stake version of the Ethereum blockchain. The Beacon Chain launched in December 2020.
The Ethereum mainnet is slated to merge with the Beacon Chain. This is expected to happen in June, as was specified by Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4345, though it has been delayed before.
The consensus layer deposit contract reached the 9 million ETH mark in January, which represented around $30 billion at the time—ETH’s price has slumped since.
Earlier this year, the Ethereum Foundation suggested a major rebrand to the network’s roadmap, pushing for a shift away from the terms “ETH 1.0” and “ETH 2.0,” instead favoring “execution layer” and “consensus layer,” respectively.
Since August’s launch of EIP-1559 via the London Hardfork, the network has burned nearly two million ETH at a rate of around 6 ETH per minute. EIP-1559 sought to stabilize Ethereum transaction fees, and introduced a base fee burn that destroyed ETH.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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