Ethereum staking hit a fresh milestone as on-chain commitment climbs toward 36 million ETH, signaling growing confidence in the network even as prices remain soft. Key numbers - Source: ValidatorQueue data. - Staked ETH: nearly 36 million — roughly 30% of circulating supply. - Dollar value: more than $119 billion at current prices. - Trend: staking rose from 35.5M to almost 36M since early January, despite ETH sliding over 30% since August. - Queue dynamics: the unstaking queue is zero, while the staking queue topped about 2.5M ETH — its largest backlog since August 2023. What this means The increase in staked ETH and the large staking queue point to strong long-term bets on Ethereum. Institutional flows — including publicly listed digital-asset treasuries and major staking providers — appear to be contributing to the uptick. Market observers say higher stakes strengthen the protocol’s security and show demand for long-term on-chain commitments remains high, even amid price pressure. Vitalik: build, don’t just theorize Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin has been pushing developers to move from experimentation to production-ready apps. His message: the core infrastructure is now functional — Ethereum runs on proof-of-stake, transaction costs are lower, and scaling via Layer 2s and ZK-EVMs is working — so it’s time to ship real products that people will use. Buterin highlighted practical checks like the “walkaway test”: if an app’s operator disappears, does its data and functionality persist? He pointed to projects such as Fileverse (a decentralized document editor) as examples where content survives without the original team. He also warned against overly centralized consumer devices and services that lock users into accounts, collect routine data, or demand registrations — urging focus instead on tools users truly own and control. The road ahead There’s a clear split between technical optimism and market reality. On one hand, nearly 36M ETH staked and a swollen staking queue reflect investor conviction and a more secure chain. On the other, ETH’s price weakness since August is still being felt. The narrative now leans on execution: if developers ship practical, user-friendly applications that solve everyday needs, the combination of a secure chain and working apps could accelerate broader adoption. Bottom line: the pieces are in place — infrastructure, security and capital — and attention is shifting from theory to building usable products that can bring more users to the ecosystem. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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