Ethereum reaches 1 million validators, but not everybody is happy

The cryptocurrency Ether (ETH) hits the one million validator milestone with 32 million Ether currently staked. This 32 million is valued at around $114 billion according to current market prices.

According to one report on Cointelegraph “the network achieved a validator count of one million, with the 32 million ETH staked accounting for 26% of the total supply.”

The CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, caused a surge in the price of Ethereum this week after his comments on a recent interview panel. Fink said that designating ETH as a security won’t be “deleterious.”

After Fink’s comments, the value of Ether would rise to $3,658. We covered BlackRock’s application for an ETH exchange-traded fund last year.

The staking platform Lido saw 30% of the total ETH in play and allows investors in the cryptocurrency to stake in smaller amounts as part of a collective.

This collective then takes part in the staking process (which has a maximum effective staking 32ETH limit) and their presence helps to approve transactions. For playing their part these validators get a small reward in the shape of ETH.

Not all onlookers are happy to see the number of validators increase as they believe it could bring issues with transactions. Investors such as Evan Van Ness took to X to share his concerns on the increase in the number of validators:

Definitely not, arguably already too much staked

— Evan Van Ness