The Ethereum 2.0 Testnet is Growing Fast: Here's Why It Matters

Data Suggests Ethereum Investors Are In For The Long Run, Despite Bearish Price Movements

On-chain data collected from glassnode shows that more investors are staking their Ether on the Ethereum 2.0 testnet than ever before. Those who stake their Ether on ETH2 will not be able to sell their tokens until the testnet goes live, which likely won't be until 2022.

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Benzinga

Jul 21, 2021, 14:02 ET

DETROIT, July 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Benzinga, a fintech media company providing news and data to retail investors and cryptocurrency traders, publishes its latest data study: Data Suggests Ethereum Investors Are In For The Long Run, Despite Bearish Price Movements.

Data shows that more validator nodes are being created on Ethereum than ever before. Intuitively, this makes sense. It costs 32 Ether to create a validator node on the ETH2 testnet, which cost over $130,000 when ETH was trading above $4,000.

Ethereum staked on Ethereum 2.0 cannot be withdrawn until Ethereum's mainnet migrates to proof of stake in the upcoming ETH2 upgrade. However, there isn't a set date that Ethereum plans to upgrade, and it's likely that this won't happen until 2022.

About 5% of Ethereum's total supply is currently locked into the ETH2 testnet. At current prices, the aggregate value of this staked Ether is around $10 billion. As more Ether gets staked on ETH2, less supply will be available for sale on exchanges.

Benzinga regularly conducts data studies and publishes its findings. Read Benzinga Reports: Bitcoin Predicted to Crush Bitcoin's ROI in 2021 for more data like this.

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SOURCE Benzinga