Ethereum Staking Exit Queue Hits Two-Week Wait After MetaMask Withdrawals

staking exit queue — The queue for validators to exit Ethereum‘s staking system has surged to a two-week wait, its longest of 2026, following a wave of withdrawals initiated by wallet provider MetaMask.

The exit queue ballooned to roughly 851,000 ETH, worth over $2 billion, on October 2 after MetaMask began pulling its validators offline in response to a security incident. As of Monday, about 786,000 ETH remained in the queue, facing an estimated wait of nearly 14 days due to Ethereum’s protocol limits on how quickly validators can unstake.

MetaMask has stated its investigation found no evidence that user wallets or funds were affected by the incident. Meanwhile, liquid staking protocol Lido anticipates that the withdrawn ether will be gradually restaked, a process that could take up to 45 days to complete.

Concurrently, the amount of ether waiting to enter the staking system has fallen by more than a quarter since early September, highlighting a shift in network participation dynamics.