Market Data 
The queue of Ethereum Blockchain validators is sharply increasing, reaching the highest levels since September 2023. Currently, the waiting list of validator nodes has risen above 21,391.
Ethereum Blockchain: the number of validators reaches 21,391
According to data from ValidatorQueue, it seems that the Ethereum blockchain validator queue rose to 21,391 yesterday. Nothing to do with the 7,045 validators waiting reported last February.
This means that the number of users queuing up to register as validators of the network continues to increase, which will be possible by staking their ETH.
Not only, this current level of expectation to become a validator node of the Ethereum Blockchain, is the highest level since September 2023.
“The Ethereum validator queue reaches its highest level since September 2023. This surge aligns with the increasing interest in restaking, which allows participants to earn additional returns.”
At the time of writing, the number of active nodes on the network is 984,546, just shy of a million.
Ethereum Blockchain: the queue of validators is increasing rapidly due to restaking
In addition to staking, what has become known is that the motivation behind this surge of interest in becoming a validator of the Ethereum blockchain, is also restaking.
Restaking allows users to stake the same ETH on both Ethereum and other protocols.
Platforms like EigenLayer leverage Ethereum’s validators and tokens, allowing smaller and newer blockchains to benefit from its security and trust system.
Just in its latest update from a week ago, EigenLayer was launched on the Ethereum mainnet, along with its data availability layer EigenDA.
Actually, this launch opens up the possibility for platform restakers to start earning additional returns on their staked ETH, something that did not happen before.
Coinbase Cloud and Google Cloud are among the first operators of the protocol, which on Friday announced six actively validated services that will be guaranteed by EigenLayer’s restaking.
The opportunities of restaking and the price of ETH
At the beginning of April, the new earning opportunities in the Ethereum restaking sector were explored, increasingly targeted by crypto airdrop hunters.
Specifically, Renzo and Etherfi’s airdrops (2nd round) have been analyzed, both besieged by ether stakers in the last month, with a significant influx of capital coming in.
Despite this restaking movement, the price of the crypto ETH is down -12% in the last seven days. At the time of writing, ETH is worth $3,085.
This trend follows closely that of the market leader, Bitcoin (BTC), which also dropped by -8% in the last week.
Not only that, despite the long wait for Ethereum blockchain validators, the volume of ETH exchange has dropped by -22% in the last 24 hours.
