Ethereum staking drew net Ether (ETH) inflows for a sixth straight quarter, lifting the share of supply held by active validators to 35.9% even as lower transaction fees weighed on their rewards, Bitwise reported.
Bitwise’s Oct. 20 staking report put active validator balances at a record 43.8 million ETH at the end of September. Net inflows totaled 1.99 million ETH during the third quarter.
Ethereum staking’s gross annualized yield was 2.63% in the third quarter, compared with 2.81% in the second. Bitwise attributed the decline partly to more staked ETH sharing rewards and partly to reduced payments tied to transactions. Staking operator Figment separately measured the network reward rate at 2.63%, also down from 2.81%.
Greater network capacity helped lower costs for Ethereum users, according to Bitwise. Its average for four common transaction types was $0.45, compared with $1.35 a year earlier. Lower fees meant less transaction-related income for stakers: priority fees and maximal extractable value together supplied 0.10 percentage points of the third-quarter yield, while protocol-issued rewards supplied 2.53 points.
A change in how rewards accumulate also contributed to the rising validator balance. Bitwise said Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade allows some validators to add protocol-issued rewards to their stake automatically. Operators also combined validator records under the upgrade, bringing their number down from nearly 1.1 million to about 881,000 even as the amount of ETH held by active validators reached a record.
Bitwise recorded falling yields on Solana (SOL) as well. At quarter-end, 69% of its supply was staked, while gross annualized yield had declined to 5.99% from 6.38%.
Ethereum’s validator rules may change again. Ethereum Improvement Proposal 8061 (EIP-8061) would expand exit capacity while retaining the 256 ETH activation cap. It remains under consideration. Bitwise identified the fourth quarter as a target for the Glamsterdam upgrade, though Figment said the upgrade could slip to early 2027. Comments on EIP-8061 are due Nov. 1; that review deadline is not an activation date.
