Ethereum staking hits record 43.8M ETH, 35.9% of supply

The striking detail is the divergence between record staked supply and a shrinking validator set: consolidation after Pectra is raising concentration among node operators even as more ETH locks up. For the market, that means a larger share of supply is effectively illiquid while the yield that compensates stakers keeps compressing, a combination that changes the risk profile of holding ETH versus staking it. Whether validator consolidation keeps shrinking the operator base — and whether falling yields slow the six-quarter inflow streak — is the open question worth tracking.