Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche Busier, Cheaper Amid Declines

Bitwise’s first quarterly staking report found that Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche recorded higher on-chain activity and lower transaction costs over the past year, even as the tokens for each network fell by roughly half.

The report shows transactions became cheaper and usage increased, while network revenues dropped sharply. Bitwise attributes the revenue decline mainly to protocol design changes that made blockspace more abundant and less costly; weaker demand was a secondary factor in some cases.

Kam Benbrik, Bitwise head of onchain research, observed: “We've seen a big divergence between network fundamentals and market sentiment because, obviously, prices are down compared to 2025. But what we’re seeing onchain is, first, that blockchains are becoming cheaper, and second, onchain activity is actually increasing.”

Institutional investors accounted for most of the ETH added to validators this year, according to the report. Exchange-traded funds, corporate treasuries and other large holders were listed as the main inflows into the validator pool. Mining and staking firm Bitmine reported it was staking more than 4.9 million of the roughly 5.8 million ETH it holds.

By the end of the second quarter, 40.2 million ETH — about one-third of the cryptocurrency’s supply — was staked.

Staking yields varied across networks. Ethereum’s annualized staking yield was 2.84% in Q2, compared with 6.25% for Solana. Bitwise reported that 93% of Ethereum’s staking rewards and more than 90% of Solana’s rewards were paid through new token issuance rather than by fees collected from users.

Because most staking rewards are funded by freshly issued tokens, holders who do not stake face potential dilution as supply increases. Higher participation in staking also spreads rewards across more validators, reducing individual yields.

Bitwise noted clients are using different approaches to balance yield and liquidity. Some investors use liquid staking products to capture staking returns while retaining a tokenized claim that can be used in decentralized finance for activities such as providing liquidity or using the token as collateral.

The findings cover on-chain data through the end of the second quarter and reflect changes in protocol economics alongside rising institutional participation in staking.