Ethereum’s staking exit queue has jumped more than five times in just three days, reaching its longest wait of 2026. The queue rose to about 851,000 ETH on October 2 after MetaMask began withdrawing validators as a precaution following a security incident. By Monday, around 786,000 ETH, worth more than $2 billion, was still waiting to leave the staking system, with the estimated wait close to 14 days. Pasted markdown
The sudden increase does not mean that investors are rushing to sell their ETH. Most of the rise is linked to MetaMask taking some of its validators out of service.
MetaMask disclosed a security incident on September 30. The company later said its investigation had found no indication that customer wallets or funds had been affected. As a precaution, however, it started removing affected validators from Ethereum’s staking system.
Staking allows people to earn rewards by locking up ETH and helping validate transactions on the Ethereum network. But Ethereum does not allow large numbers of validators to enter or leave the system at once. There are daily limits, which means a sudden increase in withdrawals can create a long queue.
At current limits, around 57,600 ETH can leave the staking system each day. This means the large amount waiting to exit cannot be processed immediately.
A large part of the queue is believed to be connected to MetaMask’s validators. Ethereum researcher Kaden estimated that the precautionary exits involved about 17,000 validators holding around 523,000 ETH. MetaMask has not confirmed those figures.
Source: validatorqueue.com
The situation is also linked to Lido, which runs staking services using validators operated by different providers, including MetaMask. Lido expects the affected ETH to gradually return to staking after the validators complete the exit process.
Lido has estimated that the entire process could take up to about 45 days. During the period when the validators are out of service, they will also miss staking rewards.
For people holding stETH, Lido’s staking token, the company has said there is no need for any action. The large exit queue mainly reflects the movement of one group of validators rather than a broad decision by Ethereum stakers to leave.
At the same time, the number of ETH waiting to enter staking has been falling. About 1.5 million ETH was waiting to enter the system on Monday, compared with around 2 million ETH in early September.
So, while Ethereum’s exit queue currently looks unusually large, the immediate reason is mainly a precautionary move by MetaMask rather than a wider rush away from staking.
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