Ethereum staking soars as investors get ready for upcoming merge

ETH staking is speeding up as investors keep an eye on  “the Merge.” 9% of the entire supply of ETH is already tied up in staking protocols, causing ETH supply to dwindle on exchanges.

The biggest chunk of that comes through Lido, where over 25% of ETH is staked. Lido announced that the protocol last week saw its largest daily deposit ever, when ETH 197,000 were deposited.

Whereas Ethereum-native staking requires a user to put up ETH 32 for at least 1 year in order to receive annual staking rewards, anyone can stake their ETH with alternatives like Lido.

This surge in staking through Lido has also led to a sharp price increase for the protocol’s governance token LDO,  which is up more than 111% over the past 30 days.

Even though there’s no set date for the merge between the new proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain and the current proof-of-work chain (PoW), investors expect it to happen soon. Ethereum developers recently said that Kiln, the final testnet before the Merge, had successfully completed the procedures necessary for the merge to happen.

Staking means they can’t lose, no matter how the market moves. It’s essentially getting paid to HODL.

After The Merge, the amount of staked ETH could double or triple and approach $100 billion in value.

For anyone invested in ETH, you may want to consider a long HODL.