Ethereum staking reached an all-time high of 43.80 million ETH in the third quarter of 2026, or 35.9% of supply, according to Bitwise’s latest staking report. Net inflows of 1.99 million ETH made it the sixth straight quarter of staking growth.
The pay for that stake went the other way. Ethereum’s gross staking yield fell to 2.63% from 2.81%, a drop of 0.18 percentage points over the quarter. The report, published on 20 October, is titled Q4 2026 but its figures cover Q3.
More Stake, Lower Yields Across the Large Networks
The same pattern showed up on Solana. It ended the quarter with 69% of supply staked at a 5.99% gross yield, down from 6.38%. Bitwise’s summary does not give Solana’s staked amount in SOL or its change from the previous quarter.
|
Network |
Share or amount staked |
Gross yield, end of Q3 |
Previous quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ethereum |
35.9% of supply |
2.63% |
2.81% |
|
Solana |
69% of supply |
5.99% |
6.38% |
|
NEAR |
46% of supply |
4.87% |
Not given |
|
Hyperliquid |
436 million HYPE |
2.24% |
Broadly unchanged |
Bitwise also notes that Ethereum and Solana are both far cheaper to use than a year ago, while the reward for securing them fell again this quarter. For a staker, the record ETH figure means a larger pool sharing a smaller rate. The developers’ own thinking on staking rewards has shifted too: Ethereum dropped a plan to burn staking rewards in the Hegotá upgrade.
Validator Counts Fell on Both Chains, for Different Reasons
Ethereum’s validator count dropped from about 1.1 million to 881,000. Bitwise puts this down to operators consolidating under the Pectra upgrade: fewer validator records, with the same ETH behind them. That is why the validator count fell while the amount staked hit a record.
Solana’s drop has a different cause. Its validator count fell from 696 to 659 under cost pressure, roughly 30% lower than a year ago, according to Bitwise. Unlike Ethereum’s change, that reflects operators leaving rather than merging.
Tokenized Stocks Drove Activity on Solana and Hyperliquid
The report’s activity data points to trading in non-crypto assets as a growth area:
- Tokenized equity volume on Solana reached $6.93 billion, up 45%.
- Non-crypto markets made up 36.5% of Hyperliquid’s perpetual futures volume.
- On Robinhood Chain, average daily Stock Token volume rose 22 times from July to September.
Bitwise says Robinhood’s chain generated over $50 million in fees in its first quarter. The summary does not break down how much of that came from Stock Token trading.
What the Q3 Numbers Leave Open
The Ethereum figures make a clean case: six quarters of net inflows, a record share of supply locked, and a yield that keeps sliding. Whether inflows hold as the rate falls toward 2.5% is the question the Q4 data will answer.
Solana’s position is less clear from the summary alone. Its 69% staked share is high, but without the SOL amount and the quarter-on-quarter change, the summary does not show whether stake grew or the share moved for other reasons. That detail sits in Bitwise’s full report, which we have not checked here.
