The dollar value of the staked ETH peaked at $39.7 billion in November — and has now plunged by more than $25 billion, Glassnode says.
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Eye-watering amounts of Ether have been locked up ahead of the long-awaited switch from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
And it takes a substantial investment in order to operate a validator node — 32 ETH to be exact.
But according to new figures from Glassnode, those who have staked Ether are massively in the red — and preparations for the much-delayed upgrade rumble on, there's no sign of when they'll be able to get this crypto back.
Almost 13 million ETH — that's 10.9% of the circulating supply — has now flowed into the deposit contract.
Of this, 8 million ETH was deposited before the world's second-largest cryptocurrency hit an all-time high back in November 2021.
Ether hit a record price of $4,891 back then — and fast forward to now, this cryptocurrency's value has plunged by more than 75%.
Here's an especially sobering figure: the dollar value of the staked ETH peaked at $39.7 billion in November, and has now plunged by more than $25 billion.
The bear market has also had an impact on inflows to this deposit contract. As Glassnode's report explains:
"Throughout 2020 and 2021, it was common to see between 500 to 1,000 new deposits of 32 ETH per day. Currently, the weekly average number of deposits has dropped to just 122 per day, which is the lowest it has been to date."
Zooming out, and the average value of ETH at the time it was deposited stands at $2,390 — and the current spot price of $1,186 means the typical staker is nursing a loss of 50.3%.
Most of the stakers who are still in profit today made deposits all the way back in January 2021 — and now, just 17% of staked ETH is in green territory.
With no end to the bear market in sight, things could get worse before they get better.
