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Ethereum Staking Exit Queue Hits Two Weeks, Longest of 2026

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Ethereum’s staking queues were both elevated, with the entry side holding about 1.44 million ETH and the exit side sitting around 767,000 to 786,275 ETH across the reporting window. MetaMask Staking was unwinding validators through Lido after a security incident, and the exited Ether was expected to return to Lido over the next few weeks.

Key claims & sources

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The exit queue stood at 786,275 ETH, and MetaMask Staking was carrying out precautionary validator exits from Lido after a security incident.
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The exit queue reached 786,275 ETH, with an estimated wait of 13 days and 16 hours, the longest exit delay recorded in 2026.
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MetaMask Staking was carrying out precautionary validator exits from Lido after an infrastructure security incident.
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On Oct. 5, about 1.44 million ETH was waiting in Ethereum’s entry queue, with new stakers facing roughly a 25-day delay before rewards could begin.
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On Oct. 5, Ethereum’s exit queue was at 767,349 ETH, down from 850,736 ETH on Oct. 2, and exits were taking about 13 days and eight hours to clear.
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The final validators completed their exit, and the exited Ether was expected to return to Lido’s protocol over the next few weeks.

What it means

Ethereum users trying to stake and those monitoring validator operations are the ones most likely to notice this next. The entry queue meant new stakers were waiting about 25 days before ETH started generating returns, while the exit side was still taking around two weeks to clear.

In practice, staking through Lido was no longer in the same state it was before MetaMask’s validator unwinding. The final validators had completed their exit, and the exited Ether was expected to return to Lido’s protocol over the next few weeks, while the queue data still showed delayed entry and exit processing.

Market reaction i

EthereumETH it is the asset of the company or protocol in the event
first headline
+0.4% 2 h before
0.0% 4 h after
$2,712price at publication
12data points

The move was larger before the first headline than after. That is an observation, not an explanation: the market also moves on things nobody publishes.

Coverage timeline

Every piece in order, with the time its news medium declares — if it is not believable we use ours and say so — and what it added to what was already known at that point. Arriving first is not the same as adding something.

first
Oct 5 13:49
Crypto Economy scoop
Breaks the event
+5 h 28 m
Oct 5 19:17
+8 h 53 m
Oct 5 22:43
CR Cryptopolitan context
Its angle: validators, generating, disclosure; with quotes

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