Ethereum Consensus Rewards Supply 2.53 Points of Q3 Staking Yield

Ethereum’s consensus rewards supplied 2.53 percentage points of its 2.63% average gross annualized staking yield in Q3, leaving little from transaction activity as active validator balances of Ether (ETH) rose.

The balance equaled 35.9% of ETH supply at the end of the third quarter, up from 40.24 million ETH, or 33.0%, at the end of Q2. The Q3-end validator balance record marked an increase in both the amount held and its share of supply.

The average gross annualized yield was 2.63% in Q3, down from 2.81% in the previous quarter. It is an annualized rate averaged over the quarter before operator fees, not a return earned during the three-month period.

Consensus rewards contributed 2.53 percentage points of the Q3 yield. Transaction priority fees and maximal extractable value supplied the remaining 0.10 percentage points.

The number of active validator records declined to about 881,000 from nearly 1.1 million during Q3 as operators consolidated them. Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade lets eligible validators combine records and raise one validator’s effective balance to as much as 2,048 ETH, while retaining the 32 ETH minimum. Fewer records can therefore hold a larger total ETH balance.