The Ethereum validator exit queue is anticipated to increase in the coming days following Kiln Finance’s announcement of an “orderly exit” of its Ethereum validators, a decision made after a hack affecting SwissBorg, a crypto wealth management platform.
The hack resulted in approximately 193,000 Solana tokens being drained due to a vulnerability in Kiln’s API. Kiln Finance announced on X that the validator exit process is a precautionary measure to safeguard client assets across all networks.
The exit process is expected to take between 10 and 42 days, depending on the validator. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano suggested that market participants have little to worry about, stating on X that the unstaked ETH will likely be restaked using new validator keys, implying minimal selling pressure.
Concerns often arise when a large volume of Ether is unstaked, as it can be perceived as a bearish signal. According to ValidatorQueue data, the current ETH exit queue sits at 1,628,074. Approximately 35.5 million ETH is staked, which is roughly 29.36% of the total supply.
Ethereum has experienced fluctuations in its validator entry and exit queues in recent months. On August 28, Cointelegraph reported a significant validator exodus, with over 1 million Ether tokens awaiting withdrawal. Conversely, on September 3, the amount of Ether in the staking queue surged to its highest level since 2023, driven by institutional traders and crypto treasury firms seeking staking rewards.
As of the time of publication, Ether is trading at $4,306, according to CoinMarketCap.
