The crypto market dropped nearly 4% on Monday (August 25), raising concerns about the increasing wave of Ethereum (ETH) unstaking. On-chain data shows that up to 1.18 million ETH are in the withdrawal queue, the largest backlog in many months.
This delay is putting pressure on the Ethereum network. Normally, the unstaking process takes only 3 to 5 days, but with the current situation, those registered to withdraw may have to wait up to 40 days.
The wave of unstaking does not create immediate selling pressure.
Unstaking does not mean that holders will sell ETH immediately. Many may continue to hold, waiting for a higher price or taking advantage of opportunities in DeFi. According to data from Dune Analytics, over the past 45 days, there has been no clear correlation between the volume of ETH unstaked and price fluctuations.
However, when ETH has been withdrawn and transferred to exchanges, the price often tends to decrease.
On August 19, a massive inflow of funds into Binance coincided with a 5% drop in ETH. On the same day, the Nasdaq index also fell by 1.46% due to concerns about the Federal Reserve delaying interest rate cuts.
According to on-chain data, approximately 115,000 ETH will exit staking each day this week. At the current price, this amount is equivalent to nearly 4,600 USD per ETH, or about 529 million USD being brought into circulation daily.
This volume will increase instability as the market remains sensitive to macroeconomic fluctuations. The combination of large unstaking volume and negative news could lead to significant price swings.
Some market experts believe that these concerns are being exaggerated. They compare the current situation with Solana, which also faced similar worries after the unstaking incident related to FTX.
Meanwhile, data from CryptoQuant shows that the supply of ETH on centralized exchanges has dropped to a record low, at only 18.3 million ETH, thereby reducing immediate selling pressure.
The unstaking flow remains very strong, but the final impact will depend on whether ETH is transferred to exchanges, along with macroeconomic conditions. Analysts warn that simply withdrawing ETH is not enough to trigger prolonged sell-offs without external shocks to the market.
Overall, the amount of Ethereum waiting to be unstaked is at a record high, reflecting increased investor activity, but the actual impact on the market remains uncertain. Even though billions of USD worth of ETH are about to be released, the flow to exchanges and global economic trends are the determining factors of whether this wave of unstaking will create selling pressure or simply reflect the maturity of the network.