Ethereum 2.0: There are 66.5k validators and 2.7 million ETH staked for Serenity

TL;DR Breakdown:

• Over $3 billion has been staked in Ethereum 2.0.
• The number of active and pending validators are continually growing.

The level of confidence in Ethereum 2.0 is waxing stronger with every new day, as more coins are being staked on the Eth2 deposit contract. At the same time, the number of approved validators are also increasing. While only a few validators have been penalized so far, the number of pending validators has been on the rise, according to the information provided by Beaconcha.in.

Over 2.7 million ETH has been staked in Ethereum 2.0 

According to Eth2 LaunchPad, there are currently 2,779,362 ETH staked on the deposit contract. This is about 2.4 percent of the circulating supply of Ether. Following the price of the cryptocurrency at $1,316 on Coinmarketcap, the total coin staked on the network is worth about $3.6 billion. This is impressive to note, given that there were only 853,088 ETH staked a day before the launching of the Beacon chain – on December 1. 

Currently, the estimated annual percentage return for the coins staked at this is 9.4 percent, according to the chart on the Launchpad. 

Eth2 validators are increasing

As per Beacoincha.in, there are 66,587 validators presently active on the Ethereum 2.0 networks. This is a massive increase as the number of validators needed to kick-off the beacon chain then was 16,384. Validators can be seen as miners, who are responsible for guiding/securing the network and its data, except that no mining machine is required to do so. Meanwhile, there are also 20,059 validators pending approval to partake in securing the Ethereum 2.0 network.

To become a validator for Ethereum 2.0, interested persons would need to deposit at least 32 ETH, which is currently worth $42,112. About four validators have been removed from the network for mischievous actions.