After wait times for withdrawing staked ETH on Ethereum skyrocketed last summer, it’s now the turn of the deposit queue to explode. Why is this happening?
Wait times for staking ETH on Ethereum are skyrocketing
Over the past few months, we’ve covered Ethereum staking several times, as the queue to withdraw ETH had grown significantly, reaching a peak of over 46 days in September.
Little by little, this queue has cleared up, to the point where it now takes only 13 minutes to retrieve your ETH.
Conversely, the wait time to deposit ETH into staking has increased significantly, currently standing at 37 days and 12 hours at the time of writing. For comparison, this is the longest wait time since July 9, 2023:
Wait times in days to enter and exit staking on Ethereum
Expressed in terms of ETH, this queue currently stands at 2.17 million units.
The main reason for this sharp increase in the waiting time lies with Bitmine, the largest Ethereum Treasury Company, whose Ether holdings represent 3.45% of the total supply. Of the more than 4.16 million ETH held by the company, approximately 30% is currently used to secure the Ethereum blockchain, and this amount nearly doubled last week:
As of January 11, 2026, the total ETH staked on Bitmine stands at 1,256,083 (equivalent to $3.9 billion at $3,119 per ETH). This represents an increase of 596,864 ETH compared to the previous week. This amount represents only a fraction of the 4.17 million ETH held by Bitmine. […] Bitmine is currently collaborating with three staking providers as part of its preparations for the commercial launch of its MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network) in 2026. Bitmine has staked more ETH than any other entity in the world.
Other, more marginal reasons for this increase in staking periods can also be found, such as the fact that staking provides regular returns, currently at a rate of 2.83% per year. However, this assumption should be put into perspective, since higher returns can be achieved with stablecoins, or even outside the crypto ecosystem, without being exposed to ETH’s volatility.
Nevertheless, the fact that the price of ETH is currently down 36.7% from its all-time high (ATH) could actually be seen as an investment opportunity by some investors, who might seek to maximize their potential profits through staking.
As we did with the withdrawal queue, we can now turn our attention to these deposit delays, which could continue to lengthen if Bitmine or other Ethereum Treasury Companies pursue their staking ambitions, but also once specialized ETFs are approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
