Market fear index remains in the extreme fear zone, with Bitcoin fluctuating around 90,000. But have you noticed, ETH has already started to rise from around 3,130. Many are still wondering if this is a false rally; my judgment is: this rebound is not just retail investors dabbling in bottom fishing, but institutions deploying real capital.

Let's look at some data first. Currently, the total ETH staked has reached 35.5 million, accounting for 28.91% of the circulating supply, with an annualized yield steadily maintained between 3-3.5%. Even more interesting is the reversal in the staking queue—remember the scene in September 2025 when ETH surged to 4,700? At that time, 2.66 million ETH rushed to withdraw, and selling pressure was quite fierce. Now, the situation is completely reversed: only 80,000 ETH are waiting to withdraw, while 900,000 to 1 million ETH are queued to enter staking, more than 15 times the withdrawal queue. This causes validator activation to require a 17-day wait.

What does this indicate? ETH in circulation is becoming increasingly scarce, and the supply-demand relationship has quietly changed. This is the most fundamental market logic, more direct than K-line charts and various technical indicators.

Now, look at institutional actions. The world's largest ETH asset management firm, BitMine, has staked 590,000 ETH in the past 8 days, worth over $1.8 billion. On January 3rd alone, they staked more than 80,000 ETH, and they also revealed plans to increase staking to 5% of the total supply within the first quarter. BlackRock's ETHA fund holds nearly 3 million ETH, with a book value close to $9 billion. Since 2025, net inflows into ETH spot ETFs have also been continuously increasing.

What do these data points reflect? Institutions are not betting on a market sentiment rebound; they are demonstrating with real capital that ETH's fundamentals are solid enough.