Ethereum's Decline Continues: Is a Time Bomb Looming?

Ethereum prices have fallen after hitting near-record highs last week, with analysts warning that a surge in unsecured tokens could impact the market further.

The leading cryptocurrency surged from $3,698 in early August to $4,788 last Thursday, its highest level in four years. But by 9:00 a.m. GMT on Monday, it had fallen to $4,260, a 10% drop after a nearly 30% surge in two weeks.

The waiting time for ETH collateral removal increased from 25 to 40 days.

The strong gains have spurred intense cryptocurrency unlock activity. On-chain data provider Rated reported that on August 9 alone, the Ethereum exit queue was so congested that processing times extended to approximately 25 days.

The unlock process involves two main steps: the exit queue and the withdrawal queue. The exit queue is when a validator requests to leave their position on the network. The withdrawal queue is the next step, where the unlocked Ethereum is returned to the user's wallet. Typically, the unlocking process takes only two or three days.