Ethereum 2.0 Exceeds 200K Validators, Has 6.6 Million ETH in Staking

Ethereum 2.0 has added more validators to its tally recently, taking the total staking on the platform to $14 billion. The network has seen its validator count jump from 180,000 to more than 200,000 in just four weeks. The addition of new individuals has certainly inflated the amount of Ether staked on Ethereum 2.0, which currently stands at over 6.6 million tokens.

Ethereum 2.0 Staking Surpasses 200K Validators

Ethereum’s move towards a proof-of-stake consensus and other features that bring scalability and speed to the network continues to inspire investor confidence. Last month, the platform held 5.91 million ETH tokens worth almost $12.7 billion. This figure has now breached 6.6 million ETH, which represents $14 billion in fiat money.

The network is yet to see the implementation of the update but has recently approved the proposal that allows Ethereum’s transition from a proof-of-work model. Presently, its developers are working on the London hard fork update, which is scheduled to be deployed on August 4. The upgrade contains the highly anticipated EIP-1559 proposal that changes the protocol’s fee structure. It will also improve transaction times and introduce a Bitcoin-like supply cap on Ether’s supply.

The London hard fork is a hotly debated subject for many miners since it will reduce their earnings from the transaction fees. Some crypto analysts believe that this will trigger a migration of Ethereum miners to other competing chains, consequently affecting the network’s security and block times negatively.

Vitalik Butern Wants Ethereum Utility to Span Across DeFi

Ethereum’s lead developer and co-founder Vitalik Buterin wants Ethereum’s utility to grow beyond the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Buterin outlined his vision for the blockchain at the recent EthCC conference in Paris. Among other things, he said that “the decentralized space just is a bigger delta from centralized finance than it is from centralized other things.”

Furthermore, he indicated that Ethereum has several applications beyond the financial field and it should go further than DeFi. “Ethereum being defined by DeFi is better than Ethereum being defined by nothing, but we have to go further,” Buterin noted.

The altcoin market leader has made a comeback in the last few days after Bitcoin showed signs of recovery. At the end of last week, Ethereum started trading above the $1,900 mark and bounced to more than $2,000. The latest rally could push the currency even higher in the coming days. As of press time, Ethereum was changing hands at around $2,186.