Ethereum: PoS validator count crosses milestone ahead of Shanghai upgrade

• The count of validators running the PoS network has exceeded 500,000.
• As the market corrects, ETH’s price has fallen by 5% in the last 24 hours. 

The number of validators on the Ethereum [ETH] Proof-of-Stake network surpassed 500,000, according to data from Glassnode. This milestone comes ahead of the scheduled upgrade for the Shanghai network, set to take place at the end of the first quarter of 2023.

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According to data from the on-chain data provider, the number of validators on the PoS chain grew by 76% on a year-over-year basis. Since the Merge on 15 September 2022, this has increased by about 20%.

Source: Glassnode

State of the PoS network

Those looking tp become a validator on the Ethereum PoS network need to deposit 32 ETH into the Ethereum 2.0 contract. As of this writing, the total number of ETH deposited into this contract by validators running the network was 16.23 million ETH, per data from Glassnode. 

This represented 13% of the altcoin’s current circulating supply of 120.53 million ETH. With more validators joining the network, the total value of ETH deposited into the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract grew by 78% in the last year. 

Source: Glassnode

Validators on the Ethereum PoS network are grouped into sets of committees and block proposers for each 32-slot Epoch. A validator on the committee is responsible for producing blocks for each 12-second slot.

These validators are automatically organized into sets of committees and block proposers for each 32-slot Epoch. A validator in a committee is charged with the duty of producing blocks for each 12-second slot. However, if the assigned validator is unavailable, it results in a missed block. 

FUD overruns the market 

Data from Glassnode revealed that the number of missed blocks on the PoS network has decreased by 90% since its daily peak of 259 missed blocks on 6 September, 2022. In the last year, this fell by 54%. 

Source: Glassnode

Further, to ensure that the PoS network runs optimally, there has to be a high degree of participation by validators on the network. According to Glassnode, a high participation rate indicates a reliable validator node uptime and, thus, fewer missed blocks and superior block space efficiency. 

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Since the temporary slip of participation rate on the network to 97% on 7 December 2022, it regained its spot at 99%, where it sat at the time of writing. This meant that almost all the network validators were actively participating in the block production process.

Source: Glassnode

According to data from Santiment, a significant surge in the alt’s social dominance was spotted on-chain. A sudden spike in this metric typically suggests widespread euphoria in the market. This is followed by a decline in an asset’s price.

Amid a market-wide dip, ETH’s price declined by 5% in the last 24 hours.

Source: Santiment