Ethereum Exit Queue Hits Zero; Bitmine Floods Staking Contract with $2.4B

The capitulation is over. For the first time since July, Ethereum’s validator exit queue has collapsed to effectively zero. The selling pressure that plagued late 2025 has evaporated, replaced by a wall of institutional capital hunting yield.

As of Tuesday morning, the exit queue sat empty. In its place, the entry queue has swelled to over 1.3 million ETH, a backlog driven almost exclusively by a single corporate entity.

The Bitmine Pivot

Bitmine (BMNR), the Tom Lee-chaired treasury, has aggressively cornered the validator market. Filings and on-chain data confirm the firm deposited approximately 250,592 ETH into the staking contract over the last week, bringing its total staked position to 659,219 ETH. This single maneuver accounts for the bulk of the current entry congestion.

The scale of this accumulation is forcing a repricing of risk. With Bitmine now holding over 4.14 million ETH total, nearly 3.43% of the circulating supply. The asset is transitioning from a decentralized gas token to a concentrated institutional yield instrument.

First ETF Yield Distribution

The pivot to yield was formalized on Wall Street this morning. Grayscale’s Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) executed the first-ever staking reward distribution for a US-listed spot crypto product.

ETHE shareholders received a cash dividend of $0.083178 per share, derived from staking rewards accrued between Oct. 6 and Dec. 31.

This payout sets a precedent. While other issuers await regulatory clarity to stake their underlying assets, Grayscale has effectively turned ETH into a productive asset for traditional equity portfolios.

Market Reaction

ETH held steady at $3,220 following the distribution, showing resilience despite broader macro headwinds. The clearing of the exit queue removes the structural sell-side liquidity that capped rallies in Q4. Validators are no longer fleeing; they are locking in.