Massive influx into the queue: the volume of ETH for withdrawal has increased by 2.5 times
According to data from the official Ethereum dashboard, over the past 48 hours, the number of ETH waiting to exit staking has sharply increased — from 1 million ETH (approximately $5.7 billion) to 2.5 million ETH, which is equivalent to over $11.7 billion at current market prices.Despite the impressive amount in the queue, it accounts for only about 7% of the total volume of ETH locked in staking. This indicates that the overwhelming majority of participants continue to hold their assets in the network.
Reason for the surge: Kiln withdraws all validators after a hacker attack
Analysts link the sharp jump to the decision of the infrastructure company Kiln to completely withdraw from its role as a validator operator in the Ethereum network. This step was characterized as a "preventive security measure" and followed shortly after the compromise of one of its wallets.Previously, attackers stole tokens Solana worth $41 million belonging to the SwissBorg platform. Kiln acted as an external staking provider for it, and the incident undermined trust in its operational reliability.
Additional failures: mass "slashing" of validators due to human error
Alongside the growing withdrawal queue in the Ethereum network, another incident occurred — a mass slashing event affecting many validators. Preliminary information suggests that the cause was an error on the part of one of the infrastructure operators.
In the Proof-of-Stake mechanism, slashing serves as an important protection tool: validators who violate consensus rules (for example, due to double signing or downtime) automatically lose part of their staked funds. Such sanctions are intended to maintain the stability and integrity of the network's operation.
Thus, the current situation reflects not only the growing interest in exiting staking, but also the vulnerabilities faced even by experienced participants in blockchain infrastructure.