The number of blocked Ethereum coins crossed 12 million

Amid the rising popularity of Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency stacking, the number of blocked coins exceeded 12 million for the first time ever.

According to the Ethereum Launchpad service, users of the Beacon Chain network sent 12,346,869 ETH ($33.8 billion at current exchange rates) to the stakeout. The number of validators has reached 368,127, and the annual yield of stacking is 4.4%.

Ethereum has fallen 23% over the past month. On May 4, the price of the asset broke through the bearish trend line that emerged in early April, but the very next day the value of the altcoin fell below this line.

Ethereum rate fluctuations

Some experts believe that the implementation of The Merge upgrade, scheduled for the second half of 2022, will trigger a massive dump in the cryptocurrency market. This prediction is based on the assumption that after the upgrade is implemented, many stackers will withdraw their coins and sell them.

However, Ethhub portal founder Anthony Sassano reassured investors by saying that the option to withdraw locked assets will be added at least six months after the virtual currency blockchain moves to the PoS consensus protocol. At the same time, the developers will set a coin withdrawal limit, which, according to Sassano, will be about 30,000 ETH per day.