Ethereum’s entry queue holds new stakers for 25 days as MetaMask exits drain

Individuals looking to stake new Ethereum are currently facing a wait of approximately 25 days before their ETH starts producing returns. Data from validatorqueue.com shows that 1.44 million ETH sat in the entry queue as of October 5.

Meanwhile, the exit queue decreased to 767,349 ETH from an October 2 high of 850,736 ETH as MetaMask uninstalls validators previously operated via Lido. Clearing these exits requires roughly 13 days and eight hours.

17,000 Lido validators joined the queue in days

Following the disclosure of a security incident on September 30, MetaMask Staking began pulling validators. Approximately 17,000 validators accounting for roughly 523,000 ETH—all operating on Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol—queued up for removal.

The exit queue hovered near 166,000 ETH on September 29. It surpassed 850,000 ETH within a matter of days before beginning to recede.

Ethereum restricts the volume of stake entering or leaving the validator network through a churn limit, currently set at 256 ETH per epoch in either direction. Because an epoch lasts roughly 6.4 minutes, only about 57,600 ETH processes daily on each side.

Altogether, staked ETH stands at roughly 43.7 million, representing about 36% of the total supply, alongside 866,944 active validators.

Current staking yields sit at approximately 2.6%.

Lido puts re-entry for the withdrawn stake at 45 days

The entry queue could also be extended by MetaMask’s withdrawn ETH.

Characterizing the exits as temporary, Lido expects to recover the majority of the stake and estimates a re-entry timeline of up to 45 days.

Cryptopolitan noted on October 1 that the final impacted validators were scheduled to exit, though not fully withdraw, by the end of October 7.

Consensys founder Joseph Lubin posted on X, “Your Secret Recovery Phrase, your keys, and the assets in your wallet were not part of this incident because they CANNOT be.” According to MetaMask, its staking service is non-custodial and lacks customer withdrawal keys.

As a security measure, Lubin mentioned that the firm rotated its validator keys, meaning these rotated validators must exit and re-enter the queue to resume staking.

MetaMask has advised users to remain vigilant against phishing attempts and safeguard their secret recovery phrases.

At the time of writing, ETH exchanged hands near $2,715, marking a 0.4% increase over 24 hours. Valued at this rate, the roughly 523,000 ETH departing MetaMask validators equates to roughly $1.42 billion.

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