The Great Unstaking: What's Happening With Ethereum's Validator Queue?

2025-11-04 15:03:56

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Ethereum’s staking ecosystem is experiencing a major shake-up. The exit queue has balloned to 2.636 million ETH ($12.28B) with holders now facing a 45-day+ wait to unstake. That’s a massive backlog.

On the flip side, the entry queue sits at 634,000 ETH ($2.97B), with newcomers waiting about 11 days to get their validators online.

What’s driving this?

Staking giant Kiln is the primary culprit. The firm initiated an orderly withdrawal of its ~1.6M ETH validators following a security incident linked to SwissBorg. But here’s the thing—Kiln clarified that these ETH aren’t heading to the market. Instead, they’re being re-staked with fresh validator keys to tighten security.

What it means:

This isn’t a panic dump. It’s a strategic redeployment. However, the massive validator queue reveals staking infrastructure constraints—when you’ve got $12B+ waiting in line to exit, the network’s validator capacity becomes a real bottleneck. Watch if this clears quickly or if it signals broader shifts in staking participation.

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