What's the Rush to Stake ETH?
Plus, Bermuda taps Coinbase and Circle
Olivia Capozzalo & Denis Omelchenko
January 21, 2026
gm Defiers!
Today’s big story:
- Ethereum’s validator queue is back in focus after flipping from empty to congested in just a few weeks
In other news:
- Bermuda goes on-chain
- Pumpfun unveils investment arm
- FEATURE: Crypto VCs debate the future of DePIN
- EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Inside Stripe’s crypto strategy with Privy CEO
The Defiant’s 2025 in review:
- How Digital Asset Treasuries Went Mainstream in 2025
- RWAs Became Wall Street’s Gateway to Crypto in 2025
- Prediction Markets Expand from DeFi Niche to Global News Sources
- Stablecoins Became Crypto’s First Mainstream Use Case in 2025
- Looking Ahead: The Biggest Names in Crypto Predict New Bitcoin Highs and a Tokenization Boom in 2026
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
Stellar: The Proving Ground for Real-World Privacy
The latest Stellar upgrade, X-Ray, delivers zero-knowledge cryptography that lets developers build privacy into their apps—protecting what matters while keeping Stellar radically open, trusted, and ready for real-world finance.
We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today
📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $89,674 | -1.21 % |
 | Ethereum | $2,982.23 | -2.56 % |
 | BNB | $881.65 | -2.80 % |
 | XRP | $1.93 | 0.67 % |
 | Solana | $128.84 | -0.06 % |
Today’s Big Story
Ethereum Staking Bottleneck Flips From Exit to Entry in Just Three Weeks
Ethereum’s validator queue is back in focus after flipping from empty to congested in just a few weeks.
Once the queue to unstake ETH finally cleared following months of backlog, the entry side quickly surged to a record high in recent weeks. ETH holders now need to wait nearly 49 days to join the network as a validator, topping the previous peak of roughly 44 days in June 2023, according to data from ValidatorQueue.
Ethereum validator queue. Source: ValidatorQueue
It’s still unclear how much of this churn is being driven by large, institutional staking players. As The Defiant reported back in September, Kiln — one of the biggest staking providers across networks — had been pulling out and reorganizing its ETH validators as part of its “additional precautionary measures to safeguard client assets” after it experienced a security breach.
Kiln said then that it had begun the “orderly exit of all of its Ethereum (ETH) validators.” At the time, Dune Analytics data showed Kiln controlled more than 1.6 million ETH across about 51,000 validators, ranking it as the fifth-largest staker before its exit. Today, Kiln has about 612,000 ETH staked across 19,000 validators, marking a more than 60% reduction in staked ETH since September.
However, it remains unclear whether or not Kiln has attempted to resume its previous Ethereum staking capacity, which could offer one explanation for the sudden spike in the network’s validator entry queue.
Tom Lee’s BitMine may also be adding to the congestion. The firm now holds more than 4.2 million ETH after it purchased an additional 35,268 ETH in the past week alone, further securing its #1 spot among ETH digital asset treasury firms.
Top-5 ETH DATs. Source: CoinGecko
In press release yesterday, Jan. 20, BitMine explicitly said it had increased its staked ETH by 581,920 ETH in the past week, bringing its total staked ETH to over 1.8 million. Lee claimed in the release that the firm “has staked more ETH than other entities in the world.”
The recent move seems likely to have added pressure on the already crowded validator entry queue, which began its spike upward at the end of December. At the time of writing, both Bitmine and Kiln had yet to respond to our request for comment on their staking moves.
Denis, staff reporter at The Defiant
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🎬WATCH
Liquid Staking Explained: From ETH to XRP with Firelight | Crypto 101 [SPONSORED]
In this episode, we explore liquid staking, how it works, why it was created, and how it’s expanding beyond traditional proof-of-stake blockchains. We start with staking fundamentals, explain why locked capital became a problem, and show how liquid staking tokens (LSTs) unlock new utility across DeFi.
How Stablecoins Are Rewiring Global Payments | Borderless CPO Alex Garn
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Chris Storaker sits down with Alex Garn, chief product officer at Borderless, to unpack how stablecoins are quietly transforming cross-border payments — and what it actually takes to move money at scale across jurisdictions.
We explore why stablecoins are moving beyond trading and DeFi collateral into real-world enterprise payments, where they already outperform legacy rails on settlement speed, transparency, and custody — especially across emerging market corridors like Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Top News in the Past 24 Hours
- Bermuda Taps Circle, Coinbase to Build ‘Fully Onchain’ Economy Bermuda plans to turn itself into what it calls the “world’s first fully onchain national economy,” with backing from stablecoin giant Circle and crypto exchange Coinbase. Why it matters: Bermuda was one of the earliest regions globally to clarify its regulatory stance on crypto with a comprehensive framework.
- Pumpfun Unveils Investment Arm and $3 Million Hackathon Solana-based memecoin launchpad pumpfun has unveiled Pump Fund, a new investment arm it says will support startups built inside its ecosystem, kicking off with a $3M hackathon. Why it matters: Pumpfun is framing the hackathon as an alternative to traditional venture capital funding.
- Crypto VCs Split as Hype Around DePIN Fades Venture investors are increasingly locking horns over DePIN — short for decentralized physical infrastructure networks — as some argue the model is running out of steam, while AI and DePIN assets lost an average of 80% in 2025. Why it matters: Just this past June, the WEF projected that DePIN will grow into a $3.5 trillion market by 2028.
Trending on The Defiant
- Crypto Markets Slide as BTC Falls Below $90K, ETH Drops 7%
- Pumpfun Unveils Investment Arm and $3 Million Hackathon
- ME Token Slumps After Magic Eden Announces Buybacks, Staking Rewards
- Most Crypto Holders Want to Pay with Bitcoin but Rarely Do, Survey Show
- GAS Tanks 90% After AI Dev ‘Steps Back’
- NYSE Eyes Private Blockchains to Launch 24/7 Tokenized Stock Trading
That’s it for today — if you enjoyed this newsletter, tell your friends! https://thedefiant.io/subscribe
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