Ethereum staking ratio hits record 34% with 40M ETH locked despite low 1.74% yields

Ethereum's staking ratio reached a new high of 33.9% in July 2026, with about 40.7 million ETH locked in validators securing the network. Despite staking yields compressing to 1.74%, demand to join remains strong, partly due to liquid staking tokens and pooling protocols that lower entry barriers. Lido dominates staking with 19.4% of staked ETH, raising concerns about centralization risks. The high staking ratio reduces the risk of network attacks by increasing the cost to disrupt consensus, while locking up a significant portion of circulating ETH and limiting mass sell-offs.