Ethereum staking reaches a record high as yield and fee revenue decline

• Annualised Ethereum staking yields slipped to 2.63% in Q3, even as staked ETH hit a record 43.8 million, equivalent to 35.9% of total supply.
• Average daily ETH revenue declined 40.2% to 198 ETH, with fees and MEV generating $40.64 million during Q3.
• Quarterly transaction processing on Ethereum totalled 199.32 million

Lower annualised staking yields accompanied a record rise in Ethereum (ETH) staking to 43.8 million ETH in Q3 2026, according to crypto asset manager Bitwise.

Why are Ethereum staking yields falling as staked ETH hits a record?

By the quarter’s close, 35.9% of Ether’s total supply was staked, Bitwise said in its Q4 staking report released on Tuesday. A sixth consecutive quarter of growth saw net staking inflows total 1.99 million ETH.

Despite the increase in staking activity, ETH’s gross annualised staking yield slipped to 2.81% in Q2 from 2.91% in Q1, before falling further to 2.63% in Q3.

According to the report, the yield decline reflected both an expanding pool of staked ETH and weaker execution rewards from transaction fees and maximal extractable value (MEV).

Bitwise explained: “As more ETH is staked, rewards are distributed across a larger pool, reducing the yield earned on each ETH,”

Of the Q3 yield, 2.53 percentage points came from consensus rewards generated through protocol issuance, representing 96.3% of the total. Just 0.10 percentage points came from priority fees and MEV.

Fees and MEV brought the blockchain 18,210 ETH in Q3 revenue, valued at approximately $40.64 million. At 198 ETH, average daily revenue was down 40.2% from Q2’s 331 ETH and at its lowest since Q1 2025.

Quarterly transactions on Ethereum totalled 199.32 million, a marginal decline from 203.85 million in Q2. On a YoY basis, however, transaction volume rose 35.3%.

Across four common transaction categories, the average cost fell to $0.45 from $1.35, a 67% YoY reduction. These categories comprised ETH transfers, ERC-20 transfers, decentralised exchange trades and non-fungible token trades.

Greater network capacity partly explained the cost reduction, according to Bitwise, as it eased competition for blockspace and exerted downward pressure on transaction fees.

The report noted: “The additional activity has not yet translated into stronger value capture,”

Falling staking returns extended beyond Ethereum to other major proof-of-stake networks.

With 69% of its supply staked at the end of the third quarter, Solana saw its gross annualised yield fall from 6.38% to 5.99%.

A 46% staking ratio and a 4.87% yield were recorded on NEAR. On Hyperliquid, 436 million HYPE was staked, delivering a gross annualised yield of 2.24%.

During the quarter, Solana’s validator count fell to 659 from 696, leaving it approximately 30% below the year-earlier level. Cost pressures were behind the decline, Bitwise said.

How are tokenised equities expanding across crypto networks?

The report also drew attention to an increase in tokenised market activity beyond staking.

A 45% rise took tokenised equity volume on Solana to $6.93 billion. Meanwhile, 36.5% of Hyperliquid’s perpetual futures trading volume came from non-crypto markets.

Growth was also substantial on Robinhood Chain, where average daily stock-token volume increased 22-fold from July to September. First-quarter fees exceeded $50 million, surpassing those of its host, the Ethereum mainnet.

At the time of writing, the crypto market has gained 1.6% over the past 24 hours.