Diminishing staking rewards fail to dampen institutional appetite for ETH staking
Bitmine Technologies announced they have bought another 9,946 ETH over the past week, another sign of long-term conviction from institutions and holders.
The Ethereum [ETH] validator exit queue remains at zero. AMBCrypto reported that this reflected long-term holder conviction, since during last year’s market crash, ETH queued for exit peaked at 2.6M ETH, with a waiting time of about 44 days.
The tables have been turned. It now takes nearly 44 days to gain entry, with just over 2.5 million Ethereum waiting in the validator queue. Once again, the fact that holders were willing to wait six weeks to begin ETH staking and earn rewards underscores a notable bullish signal.
Organic demand for ETH staking and long-term accumulation reinforces hopeful long-term bias
Falling exchange Ethereum reserves pointed to steady accumulation trends. In the short-term, the uptick in smart contract deployment and median fees, alongside under-control leverage, was a good sign that prices could recover.
Alongside the cleared ETH staking exit queue, institutional interest remained steady. Bitmine Immersion Technologies [BMNR] announced on Monday, July 27, that their total holdings measured $11.8 billion.
It represented the sum of crypto, total cash and marketable securities, and “moonshots”, with 5,787,414 ETH at $1,948 per ETH, which was 4.8% of the ETH total supply.
Bitmine’s total staked ETH stands at 4,917,189 ETH, or $9.6 billion at $1,948 per coin. Their projected staking reward is $299 million on an annualized basis.
Bitcoin and altcoin analyst Merlijn the Trader wrote in a post on X that nearly 34% of the total Ethereum supply was locked in staking. Moreover, ETH staking earns 2.62%, down from 3.05% a year ago.
Increased demand to stake, even though rewards were falling, was yet another sign of long-term holder conviction.
Does this mean Ethereum is a bargain buy?
Crypto analyst Burak Kesmeci pointed out that the average cost basis was at $2,305, compared to ETH’s market price of $1,938. This meant that the leading altcoin was still effectively “cheap“.
Combined with growing institutional participation and long-term holder conviction, the data suggests Ethereum may be attracting long-term investors despite ongoing market uncertainty.
However, other metrics, such as the MVRV and profitability, show that it was too early to call the bottom for either Ethereum or Bitcoin.
Final Summary
- The Ethereum validator queue for exit was zero, and Bitmine Technologies announced they have bought another 9,946 ETH over the past week.
- Together, the metrics showed long-term holder conviction, making the leading altcoin a bargain buy at market prices.
