Ethereum’s staking ratio reached a new milestone of 30% on Monday, locking over $120 billion worth of ETH on the network, according to Token Terminal. The all-time high indicates growing institutional confidence in the network’s value proposition.
“Institutions primarily lock funds to reduce available liquidity on exchanges, effectively altering the supply-demand balance, which can amplify the market impact of any subsequent demand,” Jimmy Xue, Co-Founder and COO of quantitative yield protocol Axis, told Decrypt.
Acquiring a significant stake also allows these entities to participate in network governance, securing influence over future protocol upgrades, Xue added.
The accumulation trend extends to other altcoins as well.
The top 100 Chainlink whales have accumulated 16.1 million LINK since mid-November 2025, a period during which the asset's price has hovered around $13.
This divergence is reflected in trading data.
Xue noted that such a divergence often signals a transfer of assets from short-term traders to long-term holders, which can indicate a floor in selling pressure. “However, this pattern is not a guaranteed predictor of a trend reversal, as it can also reflect inventory management by market makers,” he added.
Institutional Bitcoin demand“577,000 Bitcoin, worth $53B, added over the past year, and still flowing in,” he added, referencing growth in U.S. custody wallets typically holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC each.
