Ethereum 2.0: Over $500M ETH currently staked for Phase 0 launch

TL:DR Breakdown:

• More than $500 million in ETH has been staked for Ethereum 2.0 debut.
• Eth2 researcher says the development demonstrates the level of confidence the community for Eth2.

There is a huge level of confidence among Ethereum network users that the launching of the anticipated Ethereum 2.0 will mark a great success for the second-largest blockchain. This is evident as many people are still staking their Ethereum coins (ETH) on the deposit contract, despite that the required threshold needed to trigger the Genesis was reached some days ago. 

On November 23, it seemed as though the phase 0 December launch would be delayed due to less staking, not until the community intervened.

Ethereum 2.0 staking still ongoing

Not minding the threshold has been reached, ETH holders are still staking more coins for Ethereum 2.0. At the time of writing, there are currently 853,088 ETH staked on the deposit contract, according to the information provided by Eth2 launchpad. Following the coin’s price at $593 on Coinmarketcap, the staked ETH is worth over $500 million, or over 62 percent of the initial threshold. So to say, Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 has more than enough for launching tomorrow.

Reportedly, the launching is slated to happen around 12 UTC on December 1, marking the deployment of what seems to be the backbone for Ethereum 2.0. While commenting on the surplus coins staked on the network, one of the Eth2 researchers noted that the development signals a great level of confidence from the Ethereum community. “I’m proud thousands of Ethereans felt compelled to lock their funds for many months to secure Eth2,” the researcher said.

Eth2 completion still years away

Note that the staked coins cannot be withdrawn yet, not even with the Phase 0 launch. Reports confirmed that that withdrawal function would be enabled via the deployment of Phase 1.5, which is estimated to happen in the next two years. However, there may be challenges during the development stages of the four Eth2 Phases, which might delay the network launch even further.