Ethereum's data hub logged about $120 billion in staked ETH and $40.4 billion in daily average layer-2 (L2) total value locked in a Sept. 21 snapshot. Those figures measure different things and cannot be added together to show fresh ETH demand, and they coexisted with net outflows from US Ethereum ETFs last week.
Staking and ETF flows tell separate stories
Ethereum's institutional data hub showed about $120 billion in staked ETH and $40.4 billion in daily average total value locked on layer-2 networks in a Sept. 21 snapshot. The two figures measure different things — ETH committed to network security, and assets held across L2 networks — so adding them together would not measure fresh ETH demand.
Meanwhile, US-traded Ethereum ETF sessions saw over $140 million in net outflows from Sept. 15 to 18. Large pools of staked ETH and assets on Ethereum-linked networks can coexist with investors pulling money from a particular investment channel.
A staking balance is not a purchase receipt
An owner can stake ETH already held, so the result is not necessarily fresh demand in all cases. A staking balance expressed in dollars reflects both the ETH committed and its valuation, so it should not be read as new capital investors supplied during a particular day or week.
For investors, the key question is how much ETH was acquired before being staked. Farside Investors' Ethereum ETF table shows $121.1 million in inflows on Sept. 14, then $405.4 million in outflows from Sept. 14 to Sept. 17. The funds closed the week on Sept. 18 with $143.7 million in fresh inflows. Yet ETF flows only describe movements through those funds and cannot settle the question of total ETH demand.
L2 growth does not equal ETH burned
The $40.4 billion L2 figure measures assets on the networks, while the connection to ETH holders runs through what those networks pay for Ethereum's services. L2BEAT's on-chain-costs measure tracks operator payments for posting transaction data, proofs, and state updates, but those costs differ from the fees users pay directly to an L2.
Even total operator spending is not identical to ETH burned. Ethereum's execution base fee is burned, while priority fees go to validators, and blob fees operate in a separate market that is also burned. Ultrasound.money displayed 1.8 gwei in its gas header on Sept. 21, and lower execution base fees mean less ETH burned per unit of gas, other things equal.
Network security and transaction settlement pull ETH in different directions, and neither the staking total nor the L2 total by itself shows whether holders are gaining or losing ground.
Source: CryptoSlate
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