Ethereum Staking Queue Backlogs $4 Billion, MetaMask Exits Cause Delays

About 1.5 million ETH, worth approximately $4 billion, was waiting to enter Ethereum's staking queue on October 5, with an estimated wait of 25 days. This number was down from 2 million ETH and a 35-day wait in early September.

The staking queue is a bottleneck for validators, who commit ETH to the network's security. The Ethereum protocol limits validator entries and exits to prevent sudden changes in network security. This limit affects demand changes that exceed the daily capacity of 57,600 ETH.

On the exit side, 786,000 ETH, worth over $2 billion, was waiting to leave on October 5, with an estimated wait of nearly 14 days. This number rose from 166,000 ETH on September 29 to 851,000 ETH by October 2, an increase of over fivefold in three days.

The exit process is being led by MetaMask, which disclosed a security incident on September 30 and began taking affected validators out of service. The investigation found no indication that wallets or customer funds were affected.

Lido, a service that pools users' ETH for staking, expects the affected ether to re-enter staking gradually. The process could take up to 45 days, with affected validators missing staking rewards.