Kraken unstakes ETH for $1 billion
2 min readThe crypto exchange Kraken wants to pay out more than 555,000 ETH, almost 1.2 billion US dollars, from the staking pot of the Ethereum network shows Data of blockchain analysis platform Nansen. The request comes shortly after the successful “Shanghai” upgrade. This now enables users to pay out their staking rewards and thus finally finalize Ethereum’s switch to Proof of Stake.
According to Nansen, Kraken is responsible for almost 50 percent of all withdrawal requests. For comparison: the crypto exchanges Coinbase and Huobi follow far behind with 11 and five percent respectively.
However, the high value is not surprising given the legal turmoil with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency fined Kraken $30 million in February and ordered the trading platform to end its staking service for US customers. Kraken quit then announced that ETH would be removed from the staking process after the Shapella update was completed. The stake accounts for nearly half of the total amount the crypto exchange is staking on the Ethereum network.
Ether sell-off is missing for the time being
In general, however, things remained quiet for Ethereum after Shapella. Some experts expected the second most valuable cryptocurrency to sell off. The data service provider CryptoQuant justifies the missing wave of sales with the fact that the majority of Ethereum investors are still in the red. “Typically, when market participants are sitting on extreme gains, there is selling pressure. This is currently not the case with staked ether.”
Instead, ETH price has risen since the update was launched, breaking through $2,000 for the first time since May 2022. Market expert Stefan Lübeck also sees concerns about a possible sell-off as unfounded. The favorable market situation would give investors hope for higher prices, he says. “If ETH hits $2,700, things could get exciting again.”
