In a historic milestone for Ethereum, more than 50% of the total ETH supply is now locked in staking contracts, according to on-chain data platform Santiment.

For the first time in Ethereum’s 11-year history, over half of all ETH resides in the Proof-of-Stake contract — effectively functioning as a one-way vault where coins are deposited to secure the network and temporarily removed from circulation. Validator Everstake clarified that while 50.18% of supply sits in the PoS contract, about 30% represents active stake.

This growing staking ratio reduces liquid supply, potentially lowering sell pressure. “When over 50% of the supply is locked in staking, fewer coins are available for trading,” Everstake noted, adding that this dynamic increases market sensitivity to new demand.

Despite this structural shift, analysts caution that ETH could still decline toward $1,385 in the short term amid deeply negative sentiment. However, whale accumulation and institutional inflows suggest that larger players continue positioning for a long-term recovery, even as retail investors grow fatigued after years of range-bound price action.