Ethereum staking reaches record 43.8M ETH (35.9% of supply) across six consecutive quarters of growth, while staking yields decline across major L1s.
DeFi & Yields ·
Ethereum's staking ecosystem reached a record 43.8 million ETH in Q4 2026, constituting 35.9% of total supply, according to Bitwise's latest staking report. This milestone marks the sixth consecutive quarter of growth in staked ether volume. However, the expansion came alongside declining yields, which fell from 2.81% to 2.63% over the period.
The trend of shrinking returns extends across other major proof-of-stake networks. Solana maintained a 69% staking ratio but saw its yield compress from 6.38% to 5.99%, while NEAR Protocol's staked portion reached 46% with a yield of 4.87%. These declining rates reflect competitive pressures and potentially changing demand dynamics within the staking market.
Beyond staking metrics, tokenized stock trading on Solana surged 45% to $6.93 billion in quarterly volume, while daily activity on Robinhood Chain's tokenized stock segment expanded 22-fold during the same quarter. The divergence between staking adoption and yield compression, alongside accelerating activity in tokenized asset trading, underscores shifting incentive structures across the layer-one landscape.