I noticed an interesting situation with Ethereum — the coin volumes on exchanges have dropped to their lowest levels since 2016. This is a serious signal overall. Nexo analyzed the data and found that staking queues have stretched to about 50 days, while withdrawal queues are almost empty. It turns out that a significant portion of ETH is locked in staking by design.

What does this mean? The less Ethereum is freely available on exchanges, the more sensitive the market reacts to any surge in demand. Plus, there are talks that Charles Schwab might launch spot Ethereum trading for its clients, which adds interest to the asset.

Meanwhile, the community is actively discussing deeper issues — potential quantum risks to cryptography. Researchers are examining vulnerabilities in ECDSA signatures and looking for post-quantum alternatives like Falcon. By the way, Vitalik Buterin previously raised security concerns about the protocol, and now these discussions are gaining momentum in the community. They are considering hybrid solutions and gradual infrastructure upgrades.

The overall context is complemented by growing interest in Real-World Assets and new products based on Ethereum. Buterin and other developers have long spoken about scalability and security, and it seems these issues are becoming increasingly relevant. It’s interesting to see how the market is digesting this.