ETH Exit Queue Hits All-Time High After Kiln Withdrawal Sparks $11 Billion Unstake

Ethereum’s validator system is under unusual strain. More than 2.5 million ETH, worth roughly $11.3 billion, are currently waiting to exit the network’s staking mechanism, stretching the exit queue to 44 days, the longest on record.

The backlog was triggered when Kiln, a major staking infrastructure provider, withdrew all of its validators on September 9 as a security precaution.

Record Exit Queue for Staked Ethereum

According to Figment’s Benjamin Thalman, around 4.5% of all staked Ethereum (ETH) is now in line to exit.

“Ethereum’s validator exit queue has spiked, reaching new highs, raising fair questions about timelines and rewards,” Thalman noted in a recent report.

Ethereum Validator Queue. Source: validatorqueue.com

He emphasized that Ethereum functions as designed, with rate-limiting exits protecting network stability and allowing stakers to plan around predictable delays.

Kiln’s decision followed unrelated incidents, the NPM supply chain attack, and the SwissBorg breach, which raised security concerns across infrastructure providers.

1/10