Ethereum ended the third quarter with a record 43.8 million ETH staked, according to a Bitwise report, even as staking yields declined across major proof-of-stake networks. The same period saw tokenized stocks and traditional-market trading activity surge on Solana, Hyperliquid, and Robinhood Chain.
Ethereum staking grows despite lower yields
The 43.8 million ETH staked represents 35.9% of Ethereum's supply. Net inflows reached 1.99 million ETH, marking a sixth consecutive quarter of growth. However, annualized staking yield fell from 2.81% to 2.63% as rewards were spread across more capital.
Ethereum's validator count declined from nearly 1.1 million to about 881,000. According to the report, this does not signal reduced security: the Pectra upgrade allows operators to consolidate validators while maintaining the ETH behind them, reducing infrastructure overhead.
Transaction costs also fell. The average cost across four common transaction types dropped 67% year over year to $0.45, helped by increased block capacity. For stakers, lower fees mean less execution revenue.
Solana sees similar trade-off
Solana's active stake reached a record 440.5 million SOL, or 69% of its supply, while gross staking yield dropped from 6.38% to 5.99%. Its validator count declined from 696 to 659 amid continued cost pressure.
Tokenized stocks gain traction
Growth outside staking was more pronounced. Solana's tokenized-equity trading volume climbed 45% to $6.93 billion in Q3, and the network processed a record 14.2 billion non-vote transactions.
Hyperliquid recorded $261.5 billion in non-crypto perpetual volume, accounting for 36.5% of total perpetual trading. Equity-linked markets were among its largest products.
Robinhood Chain generated $51.1 million in fees during its first quarter. Average daily stock token trading rose from $17 million in July to $377.1 million in September, a more than 22-fold increase.
Cheaper blockchains, larger markets
The data points to a broader shift: networks are increasing capacity and reducing transaction costs while staking economics become less lucrative. At the same time, stocks, commodities, and other traditional assets are generating more onchain activity.
That changes the staking narrative. The focus is no longer solely on how much yield investors can earn, but on whether cheaper, better-secured blockchains can become infrastructure for markets far larger than crypto itself.
