Ethereum staking has reached a structural milestone in eth staking statistics for 2026. Per the ultrasound.money dashboard, 39 million ETH, roughly 32% of the total supply, is now locked in proof-of-stake, and that ratio has barely budged in six months. The marginal stake now arrives via staking products and Pectra-enabled large validators rather than new retail entrants.
Per stake.lido.fi, Lido alone holds 8,863,785 ETH with a stETH market cap of $18,710,429,352, while DefiLlama tracks the entire non-Lido liquid staking market at 5.36 million ETH ($11.31 billion). According to ultrasound.money, net ETH supply now grows by about 0.85% per year, ending the brief post-Merge ultrasound period.
Key Takeaways
- 39 million ETH are staked, equal to 32% of the total supply, according to the ultrasound.money supply dashboard.
- Total ETH supply sits at 121,709,365 ETH with a supply growth rate of +0.85% per year.
- Lido’s protocol shows 621,094 stakers holding stETH with a $18,710,429,352 market cap.
- The non-Lido liquid staking market totals 5.36 million ETH ($11.31 billion), with Binance wBETH taking a 68.91% share of that sub-market.
- Rocket Pool secures 438,324 ETH in rETH, with a 14% reward fee.
- At 2,800 ETH per day of PoS issuance, Ethereum has reversed its burn-dominant supply trajectory from 2022 to 2023.
Editor’s Choice
- 121,709,365 ETH total supply, with 39 million ETH in proof-of-stake.
- 8,863,785 ETH staked through Lido.
- Lido’s total value locked is $18.703 billion, with $18.699 billion of that on the Ethereum mainnet.
- Lido has paid out $2,446,448,280 in rewards since 2020 across 900+ node operators.
- The Lido annual percentage rate sits at 2.4% with a 10% reward fee.
- Lido’s annualized protocol fees reached $571.99 million, with $46.88 million booked in the last 30 days.
Recent Developments
- May 2026: Live on-chain data shows ETH staking at 32% of supply, with 2,800 ETH per day in new PoS issuance.
- May 2026: DefiLlama recorded $1.36 million in 24-hour Lido fees, on pace with a $571.99 million annualized run rate.
- May 2026: Binance wBETH holds 3.7 million ETH ($7.80 billion) in the non-Lido LST cohort, representing 68.91% of the non-Lido market.
- May 2026: Rocket Pool TVL declined 22.75% over 30 days to $922.87 million.
- May 2026: Lido stakers count reached 621,094 unique addresses, with $18,710,429,352 in stETH outstanding.
- May 2026: Ethereum’s annual supply growth rate stood at +0.85%, ending the brief “ultrasound” period that ran through 2023.
Total ETH Staked and Staking Ratio
- 39 million ETH are currently staked across all validators, according to on-chain data.
- That stake represents roughly 32% of the 121,709,365 ETH total supply.
- The ratio works out to approximately 32.04%, computed from the total stake over total supply.
- Of that staked pool, Lido alone accounts for 8,863,785 ETH.
- Lido’s share of total staked ETH works out to 22.7%, computed from Lido’s 8,863,785 ETH divided by the 39 million total stake.
- The plateau signals saturation rather than fresh inflow.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total ETH supply | 121.71 million |
| ETH staked | 39 million |
| Staking ratio | 32% |
| Lido share of staked ETH | 22.7% |
| PoS issuance | 2,800 ETH per day |
Source: ultrasound.money, stake.lido.fi
What percentage of ETH is staked?
Roughly 32% of all ETH is staked in proof-of-stake, about 39 million ETH out of a 121,709,365 ETH total supply, per the ultrasound.money dashboard.
Ethereum Validator Count and Distribution
- A solo validator requires depositing 32 ETH to activate the validator software on the Ethereum network.
- The Ethereum Foundation lists home staking with pooled SaaS options, pooled staking through liquid staking pools, and centralized exchange staking as the alternatives for stakers below the 32-ETH solo threshold.
- Lido runs validators through 900+ node operators distributed globally.
- Lido stakers, who hold stETH but rely on Lido’s operator set, number 621,094.
- Validator concentration outside Lido is fragmented across exchange nodes, restaking platforms, and home stakers.
By the numbers: Lido operates through 900+ node operators with $2.44 billion in cumulative rewards paid since 2020, per Lido’s protocol statistics. That operator set sits behind 621,094 Lido stakers, illustrating how liquid staking decouples retail participation from validator-running infrastructure.
How many Ethereum validators are there?
At 32 ETH per solo validator and roughly 39 million ETH staked, the network supports on the order of 1.22 million validator slots, computed from total staked ETH divided by the per-validator stake before accounting for Pectra-era consolidation. Lido alone runs validators through 900+ node operators, with that operator set securing 8,863,785 ETH for 621,094 participants.
Staking APR and Yield Rates
- Lido’s current annual percentage rate is 2.4% for ETH staked through the protocol.
- Rocket Pool’s rETH carries an LST APR of 2.00%.
- StakeWise V2 shows a 2.36% LST APR.
- Liquid Collective’s lsETH posts a 1.92% APR.
- Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH) carries a higher 2.83% LST APR, partly offsetting its 25% reward fee.
- Frax Ether (sfrxETH) posts 2.80% APR with a 10% fee.
- Binance’s wBETH shows 2.46% APR with a 10% fee.
| Provider | LST APR | Reward Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Lido (stETH) | 2.4% | 10% |
| Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH) | 2.83% | 25% |
| Frax Ether (sfrxETH) | 2.80% | 10% |
| Rocket Pool (rETH) | 2.00% | 14% |
| StakeWise V2 | 2.36% | not disclosed |
| Liquid Collective (lsETH) | 1.92% | 10% |
| Binance wBETH | 2.46% | 10% |
Source: stake.lido.fi, DefiLlama
What is the current ETH staking APY?
Headline APRs across the major liquid staking providers range from 1.92% (lsETH) up to 4.30% (mETH Protocol), with most other top providers between 2.00% and 2.83% in live data. Coinbase’s cbETH posts a gross APR of 2.83%, with a 25% reward fee. The cbETH net yield works out to roughly 2.12% after the 25% fee. Lido’s 2.4% APR with a 10% fee delivers a net yield around 2.16%, slightly higher than cbETH on a net basis despite the lower gross rate.
Liquid Staking Market: Lido vs the Rest
- Lido’s total value locked stands at $18.703 billion.
- Of that $18.703 billion, approximately $18.699 billion sits on Ethereum mainnet, with negligible amounts on Solana, Moonbeam, and Moonriver.
- The entire non-Lido liquid staking token market totals 5.36 million ETH ($11.31 billion).
- Lido captures roughly 62.3% of the broader liquid staking market when both Lido TVL and the non-Lido LST aggregate are combined.
- Within the non-Lido market, Binance wBETH takes 68.91% of the remaining LST share.
- Lido plus Binance wBETH combined control roughly 88.3% of the total liquid staking market.
- The decentralization concern often framed around Lido alone misses the second-order point: the non-Lido market is itself dominated by a single exchange-issued LST.
The takeaway: Lido and Binance wBETH together hold roughly 88% of the combined liquid staking token market by value, per DefiLlama and stake.lido.fi data. The conventional “Lido dominance” framing understates concentration because the non-Lido LST market is itself a near-monopoly held by exchange-issued wBETH.
Top Liquid Staking Providers by ETH Staked
- Lido holds 8,863,785 ETH staked, generating an $18,710,429,352 stETH market cap.
- Binance wBETH holds 3.7 million ETH ($7.80 billion) with a +0.22% 30-day TVL change.
- Rocket Pool secures 438,324 ETH ($922.87 million) in rETH, though TVL fell 22.75% over 30 days.
- StakeWise V2 holds 359,098 ETH ($756.06 million), down 8.46% over 30 days.
- Liquid Collective (lsETH) has 352,251 ETH ($741.64 million), with a +0.35% 30-day change.
- Mantle’s mETH Protocol staked 230,736 ETH ($485.8 million), with a 20.58% 30-day drawdown.
- Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH) tracks 138,993 ETH ($292.64 million), with a +4.13% 30-day gain.
- Frax Ether’s sfrxETH holds 53,835 ETH ($113.35 million).
Coinbase and Binance both run exchange-issued LSTs, and Binance’s scale helps explain wBETH’s inflow resilience.
Is Lido staking safe?
Lido has paid $2,446,448,280 in rewards since 2020 across 900+ node operators, per the protocol’s published statistics. The protocol is governed by a DAO that elects validator operators. Smart-contract exposure and operator-set concentration remain the two persistent risks.
Reward-Fee Structures Across Providers
- Lido charges a 10% reward fee on validator earnings.
- Rocket Pool’s rETH carries a 14% reward fee.
- Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH) charges a 25% reward fee on staking rewards.
- Mantle mETH applies a 10% fee.
- Liquid Collective (lsETH) charges 10%.
- Frax sfrxETH carries a 10% fee.
- Binance wBETH applies a 10% fee.
- Lido’s net APR after the 10% fee works out to 2.16%.
- Coinbase’s cbETH net APR after the 25% fee works out to 2.12%.
- Fee dispersion compresses on a net basis. Provider selection reduces to liquidity, integrations, and trust.
Key data point: Gross APRs across providers span 1.92% to 2.83%, but net yields cluster near 2.0% to 2.2% because higher-fee products typically carry higher gross rates. Frax sfrxETH posts 2.80% APR with a 10% fee, sitting above the cluster on a net basis.
ETH Supply Dynamics and PoS Issuance
- Ethereum’s total supply stands at 121,709,365 ETH as of May 2026.
- PoS issuance runs at approximately 2,800 ETH per day at current validator counts.
- The annualized supply growth rate is +0.85% per year, marking a reversal from the brief 2022 to 2023 burn-dominant period.
- At 2,800 ETH per day, annual PoS issuance works out to roughly 1.02 million ETH per year before accounting for EIP-1559 base-fee burns.
- Live ultrasound.money data shows the supply increasing by approximately 19,065 ETH in the last 24-hour window, with 574.66 ETH burned against 19,639.93 ETH issued.
- The burn ratio (burned divided by issued) was approximately 2.9% in that 24-hour snapshot, far below the burn-to-issuance ratios seen during 2022 to 2023 NFT-mania days.
- ETH’s “ultrasound money” branding from the post-Merge era no longer matches the data; reduced base-layer activity drives the mild inflation.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total ETH supply | 121.71 million |
| Daily PoS issuance | 2,800 ETH per day |
| Annual issuance rate | ~1.02 million ETH per year |
| Supply growth rate | +0.85% per year |
| 24h burn (latest) | 574.66 ETH |
| 24h issuance (latest) | 19,639.93 ETH |
Source: ultrasound.money
Why it matters: Net supply growth of +0.85% per year means ETH is mildly inflationary in May 2026, per ultrasound.money’s live data. The shift back from net-deflationary status weakens one of the most prominent post-Merge bull arguments and changes how analysts model long-term ETH dilution against staking yields.
Slashing and Validator Risk
- Slashing covers double-signing, conflicting attestations, and surrounding attestations: protocol-level offenses that cost stake.
- Voluntary downtime causes inactivity penalties, not slashing.
- Validator activation requires depositing 32 ETH.
- Lido’s operator-set diversification reduces single-validator risk for stETH holders.
- Solo home staking carries the highest absolute slashing exposure; liquid staking diffuses it across operators but introduces contract risk.
Can you lose ETH by staking?
Yes, but the mechanisms differ. Solo validators are activated by depositing 32 ETH to run the validator software. Liquid staking participants face smart-contract bugs, validator-set collusion, or stETH/ETH peg dislocations. Lido’s $2,446,448,280 in rewards paid since 2020 underwrites the protocol’s track record, though the underlying contract risk does not disappear.
Institutional Staking Trends
- Lido has paid $2,446,448,280 in cumulative rewards since launch in 2020.
- The protocol claims 100+ integrations across DeFi lending, restaking, and trading venues.
- Lido’s annualized protocol fees stand at $571.99 million.
- The protocol’s 7-day fee total is $9.99 million.
- At the 7-day pace, that translates to roughly $519 million annualized.
- Institutional appetite has shifted to ETF-wrapped products and Coinbase-custodied positions.
- Regulatory framing remains the rate-limiter. The SEC and the MiCA regime in Europe shape how funds report ETH staking exposure.
Key finding: Per Lido’s published protocol statistics, the network has paid out $2.44 billion in cumulative rewards across 900+ node operators since 2020. That cumulative figure measures economic security delivered, not just yield generated, because every paid reward represents a validator-epoch successfully attested.
Conclusion
Ethereum staking has matured into a saturated equilibrium at 32% of supply, with 39 million ETH locked, 2,800 ETH per day in fresh PoS issuance, and Lido’s $18.703 billion TVL plus $2,446,448,280 in cumulative rewards underwriting the layer. Net yields cluster near 2.1% to 2.2% across major providers, and the decentralization story is more nuanced than the headline Lido share suggests because the non-Lido market is itself dominated by exchange-issued tokens.
The next twelve months will be defined less by raw stake growth and more by composition shifts. Layer-2 migration continues to suppress base-layer burn, keeping ETH mildly inflationary at +0.85% per year. Reward-fee structures across providers converge into narrow net-yield bands that reduce provider selection to a question of liquidity, integrations, and counterparty trust rather than headline APR.
For reference: the six-source data set used here spans ultrasound.money, stake.lido.fi, lido.fi, DefiLlama’s Lido protocol page, DefiLlama’s LST dashboard, and the Ethereum Foundation’s staking documentation. Each figure carries a weekly-volatility rating, meaning the exact numbers shift with validator activity; readers should verify live values before making allocation decisions. The structural conclusions (32% staking saturation, 2.4% baseline APR, and Lido plus Binance wBETH controlling roughly 88% of the combined LST market) reflect the May 2026 on-chain state.