Key Insights Ethereum staking hit a record 43.8 million ETH, accounting for 35.9% of the total supply after six consecutive quarters of net inflows. BitMine’s $390 million deposit lifted its
Ethereum’s most revealing supply signals do not always come from coins changing hands. Sometimes, they emerge when existing assets become less liquid.
On October 21, 2026, BitMine sent another 159,728 ETH or $390.6 million into staking, raising its stake to more than 5.227 million ETH. That means BitMine has channeled almost 86.5% of its Ethereum treasury into staking, according to on-chain tracker Lookonchain.
The transaction offers a different way to examine Ethereum’s supply dynamics. BitMine did not need to purchase another $390 million in ETH to make the deposit.
It redeployed assets it already held, committing more of its treasury to the network’s proof-of-stake system rather than keeping those coins readily available for trading.
BitMine’s latest deposit brought its staked ETH to approximately $12.78 billion. The company held about 6.04 million ETH in total. Its latest allocation follows an earlier period in which roughly 84% of its holdings were staked.
BitMine Stakes Additional 159,728 Ethereum | Source: Lookonchain
The scale makes BitMine an important participant in Ethereum staking. Yet the distinction between buying ETH and staking it matters.
A purchase represents demand for the asset at the time of acquisition. Staking changes how an existing holding is deployed. That difference is central to the supply question. Staked ETH remains part of Ethereum’s total supply, but it cannot be withdrawn instantly.
Validators must pass through the protocol’s exit process before the funds become available. Staking can therefore reduce immediately accessible supply without permanently removing tokens from circulation.
According to the Lookonchain snapshot of the deposit, about 1.33 million ETH were waiting to enter the staking pool, while 149,000 ETH were waiting to exit. The entry queue is more than 23 days, and the exit window is less than four days.
The imbalance indicates a heightened short-term demand to enter the pool rather than to leave it. However, the overall size of the queues does not explain how much new liquidity has been allocated to the ETH validators.
The wider network data only add to that. As per Bitwise’s quarterly staking report, at the end of September there were 43.8 million ETH staked on the Ethereum chain. That accounted for 35.9% of the total supply.
Meanwhile, net inflows for Q3 totaled 1.99 million ETH – and that’s the sixth consecutive quarter in which inflows have exceeded outflows.
Inflows for the first nine months of 2026 reached 7.96 million ETH. This is a significant expansion in the amount of capital committed to network security. It also coincided with lower returns.
Bitwise put Ethereum’s annualized gross staking yield at 2.63% in the third quarter, down from 2.81% in the second quarter. Newly issued ETH accounted for more than 96% of staking yield, with transaction tips and maximal extractable value revenue providing most of the remainder.
Ethereum staking is, therefore, growing even as yields compress. For large treasury holders, the decision involves more than a simple comparison of returns. It also reflects how they choose to hold and deploy ETH.
CoinGecko showed Ethereum price traded close to $2,459 at the time of writing. U.S. spot ETH exchange-traded funds recorded about $320 million in terms of weekly net outflows.
The Coin Republic’s October 18th coverage noted analyst Michaël van de Poppe’s conditional $25,000 ETH price outlook. The technical commentary on X is divided. Ted Pillows identified a daily close above $2,450 as a level that could strengthen buyers’ position.
Ash Crypto pointed to a possible inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, while CryptoGerla outlined the possibility of another move towards $1,900 before a later recovery. These are individual market views, not confirmed outcomes.
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