Ethereum Staking Address Now Holds Over Half ETH Supply For First Time: Sentiment

Demand for Ethereum staking has increased despite the commodity price retreating to bearish markets.

Ethereum’s proof-of-concept contract now owns more than half of Ether’s supply “for the first time in the coin’s eleven-year history,” analytics provider Santiment reported on Wednesday.

This seems somewhat misleading, as about 37 million ETH are currently staked, representing about 30% of the total supply of 121.4 million tokens. However, Santiment explained that there is often confusion about how a proof-of-stake address works. It described the address as “a one-way vault that temporarily locks ETH to help secure the network.”

“When someone tampers with ETH, it is sent to this contract and removed from the general circulation, meaning it cannot be used or sold while it is being staked.”

Different Ways to Calculate Supply

When validators exit and withdraw, Ether is released and reused as newly minted coins in the main Ethereum network, “rather than being released from the vault itself,” Santiment explained.

“As a result, the available supply may vary depending on whether only pre-burned or whole coins are counted.”

So over time, the “vault” accumulates ETH without it flowing back out the same way it came in, making the contract’s share of the current supply appear larger. This results in a calculation of 50.18% based on ETH historically mined before burning. Santiment predicted that this number will increase, especially during bear markets and adverse trading conditions.

“As statistics continue to increase in popularity, expect this address to continue to rise, especially when trading slows down during bear cycles.”

🤑 BREAKING: Ethereum’s proof-of-stake contract address now owns more than half of Ethereum’s assets for the first time in the coin’s 11-year history.

🔐 There is often confusion about how this proof of stake address works. Think of it as a temporary one-way vault $ETH… pic.twitter.com/agj2YG37nu

– Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 17, 2026

Regardless of which figure is taken, the demand for staking has grown, and the percentage of ETH supply set is very high.

In addition, the validating input queue is also surrounded by record highs, with approximately 3.9 million ETH waiting to be staked, and the waiting time is 67 days.

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At that time, the exit queue dropped to its lowest levels around 11,500 ETH and the wait was less than five hours.

Ether Price in Bear Market Lows

Panic selling by retail traders pushed Ether prices to bear market decline below $2,000. ETH touched this psychological level briefly in late trading on Tuesday, but was hit back by resistance, falling to $1,970 during the morning session on Wednesday in Asia.

“Ethereum is not cheap right now, it’s boring,” said analyst Merlijn The Trader before adding, “it’s boring where positions are built.”