Ethereum Staking Queue Shows First Golden Cross in Six Months, BitMine Invests One Billion USD, Triggering Liquidity Tightening Expectations for 2026
(Background: What Does Solana Achieving 100,000 TPS Under Ideal Conditions Mean?)
(Additional Context: Ethereum Surpassing 10,000 TPS? How ZK Technology Can Break the “Impossible Triangle”)

Table of Contents

• Queue Golden Cross: Selling Pressure Nearing Bottom
• BitMine’s One Billion USD Bet Ignites
• Liquidity Tightening: The Repricing Script for 2026

On the last weekend of 2025, most Wall Street screens went dark, but the Ethereum (Ethereum) blockchain suddenly revealed a key signal. On December 29, the number of validators “entering the queue” surged to 745,619 ETH, with an average wait time of 13 days; “exiting the queue” dropped to 360,518 ETH, taking only 8 days. For the first time in half a year, a golden cross appeared where inflows of capital doubled the outflows, indicating that market selling pressure is rapidly depleting, sparking heated discussion in the crypto community before New Year’s Eve.

Queue Golden Cross: Selling Pressure Nearing Bottom

On-chain observation platforms show that the five-month-long net outflow trend since July 2025 was halted over the weekend. Analysts point out that if the exit queue maintains its current slowdown, this indicator will hit zero by January 3, 2026, at which point a vacuum of selling pressure could make prices extremely sensitive to buying interest. Monad executive Abdul reviewed a similar crossover in June:

Once the signal is confirmed, prices often double to make up for lost time.

BitMine’s One Billion USD Bet Ignites

The reversal in the queue is not driven by retail impulsiveness but by a major shift in asset allocation by super-institutions, with digital asset custodian BitMine taking center stage. Between December 27 and 29, BitMine gradually transferred 342,560 ETH, worth about 1 billion USD, into staking contracts. The company controls roughly 4% of the global Ethereum supply and has now adopted a “hold plus yield” strategy. With an annualized return of 3.12%, passive income could reach 371 million USD per year, indicating that institutions now view Ethereum as an internet bond capable of generating cash flow, rather than just a speculative asset.

Why did the whales choose to enter en masse at year-end? First, the Pectra upgrade, effective from May 2025, raised the validator balance limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, significantly reducing the complexity and transaction costs of managing billion-dollar assets. Second, after President Trump’s first year in office, the US regulatory environment became clearer, legal concerns diminished, and long-term staking willingness increased. With these obstacles removed, capital may start to flood in when market signals indicate a bottom.

Liquidity Tightening: The Repricing Script for 2026

The sell-off triggered in September by security concerns over staking service provider Kiln has been fully absorbed by institutional buyers and re-locked. The rapidly shrinking tradable chips, combined with a structure where entry is crowded and exit is closed, is brewing a new round of “liquidity tightening.” Market participants generally believe that the staking revival at year-end lays the foundation for Ethereum’s price revaluation in 2026. On-chain data already shows clear signals: far more people are waiting to enter than to exit, and when a vacuum of selling pressure forms, prices may respond with sharp volatility due to supply-demand imbalance.

Ethereum completed a structural shift in the last 48 hours of 2025. The influx queue surpasses the outflow queue, BitMine’s heavy bets, and the combined forces of technology and regulation are composing a new year’s prelude. The next step is for the market to see whether this supply squeeze can, like in June, bring another wave of doubling in 2026.