An interesting phenomenon has recently emerged on Ethereum—waiting in line to enter staking takes over 40 days, but exiting and withdrawing only takes a few minutes. The data behind this change is quite astonishing.

As of now, the total ETH waiting to be staked has reached 2.6 million, while the queue for withdrawals has long disappeared. A comparison reveals the clue: the number of people wanting to lock up their coins is more than 15 times the number of those wanting to sell. Nearly half of the Ethereum in the entire ecosystem has been permanently locked in staking contracts, and the circulating supply is shrinking rapidly.

The main drivers of this wave are institutional investors. Take top institutions like BitMine as an example—they staked over 1.25 million ETH in just one week, accounting for one-third of their total holdings. Their focus is not just on the approximately 3% annualized yield but more on viewing ETH as a long-term income-generating asset.

Interestingly, when selling pressure completely disappears and institutions start large-scale staking, the supply and demand dynamics have undergone a fundamental shift. On one side, liquidity is becoming increasingly tight; on the other, the locking trend is intensifying. How this asymmetric pattern will influence Ethereum's price movement is perhaps worth continuous attention.