The expected upgrade that should transform the Ethereum network’s consensus mechanism has seen its committed ETH stack reach a new peak. Meanwhile, more institutional investors are catching the fever of the growing euphoria.
Supporters of the Ethereum ecosystem seem to be putting their money where their mouth is. The total number of ETH committed to securing the ETH 2.0 upgrade has hit another new all-time high. Statistics from crypto wallet data aggregator Nansen, revealed that the total sum gathered currently sits at 11.5 million ETH.
Multiple Metrics Reveal Outstanding Support For Eth 2.0
Since the beginning of the commitment process, the total ETH deposited has continued to rally relentlessly. Over the last 16 months, the staking address has maintained a significant share of the smart contract token’s circulating supply. The total amount of tokens staked in the ETH 2.0 deposit contract currently amounts to over 34.5 billion at its current price. This figure now stands at 9.4%.
Total ETH committed | Source: Nansen
However, this increase seems to have gained more momentum within the last two months. Data from the chart shows that a significant chunk amounting to about 2 million ETH was deposited between February 21 till date. This sum alone accounts for almost 2% of the total amount. Hence, the development may serve as a sufficient indication of the renewed interest from Ethereum proponents.
In addition, the statistics revealed other interesting metrics about the ongoing ETH 2.0 commitment that is worthy of note. A closer inspection reveals that about 80,000 and 359,000 unique wallets and validators have participated. This observation suggests a healthy distribution in the total number of participants in this upgrade; a critical factor to its decentralized cause.
The anticipated ETH 2.0 implementation will see the consensus mechanism transit from Proof-of-Work (POW) to Proof-of-Stake (POS). This alteration aims to strengthen Ethereum’s throughput while eliminating the need for excess power to mint new tokens.
Furthermore, some members of the Ethereum community seem to have taken their optimism for the token up a notch by betting large sums. Some of them strongly believe that the smart contract token will flip Bitcoin before the end of 2023.
The positive sentiments around the second-largest crypto by market cap seem to be backed up by a plethora of data. Bloomberg has estimated a 9% ETH staking yield and a -2% issuance after the merge. This projection implies that not only will there be a decent incentive for stakers, but the deflationary mechanism will quickly kick in. Going by these figures, it is safe to say that there will be a supply shock following the implementation of “The Merge“.
More Corporate Investors Add Ether To Their Holdings
Institutional investors are also latching onto this growing frenzy as they scramble to cut a decent slice of the pie. Information from the Cryptotreasuries list shows that 12 companies keep about $700 million in Ethereum treasuries. Although Bitcoin holders dominate this list, ETH is fast becoming a worthy opponent. More corporate establishments now see it as a decent treasury reserve.
According to the Cryptotreasure, broker-dealers, Galaxy Digital holdings sit at the top of this list with 98,332 ETH in their stash. Ether Capital and Coinbase Global, Inc have occupied second and third place. Both companies hold less than half of the brokerage firm individually, with 43,512 ETH and 31,787 ETH in their portfolios.
ETH holdings of Public companies | Source: Cryptotreasuries
The race to stack the smart contract token has taken another turn as some public companies have resorted to means of acquisition besides direct purchase. Firms like Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd, Digihost Technology Inc., and FRMO Corp have mined substantial tokens. This has also earned them a spot on this list.
Finally, scalability demands have seen the smart contract giant fall behind alternatives like Solana. It would seem that the fate of the Ethereum ecosystem rests on the shoulder of its developers. This is because rolling out all planned upgrades like “The Merge” in good time will sustain investors’ bullish sentiment.
Do you think a delay in ETH 2.0 rollout can slow the tempo of the commitments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Kingsley is a fintech writer with over 4 years of experience covering blockchain and cryptocurrency news. Alo first discovered Bitcoin in 2016 and has been passionate about it ever since, particularly the various ways blockchain can help Africa and the world at large. He desires to give the crypto space a more geographically balanced narrative and serve as a bridge between Africa and the rest of the world. His articles have been featured in Cointelegraph, Beincrypto, and Forkast.news, among others.
