Catching up quickly! Just six weeks after its launch, Ethereum 2.0 becomes the fourth largest staking project by market value.

Just six weeks after the launch of the ETH2.0 deposit contract, Ethereum has become the fourth-largest staking project by market value, with over $1 billion worth of staked value. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in the United States has also announced the launch of cash-settled Ethereum futures products.

Estimated Annual Returns Exceeding 13%

According to data from Dune Analytics, as of the deadline, there are 1,542,853 ETH deposited, valued at over $1 billion, accounting for approximately 1.35% of the Ethereum supply.

Furthermore, the amount of ETH being deposited seems to show no sign of slowing down, continuing to steadily increase.

According to data from Staking Rewards, the current annual return for Ethereum staking is approximately 13.38%, meaning that staking 32 ETH could yield $2,791 in returns, assuming no price fluctuations.

Direct Competition with Polkadot

Currently, the top staking market value is held by Polkadot, a cross-chain protocol launched by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood. Since its mainnet launch in May, its staking rate has reached 67.46%, nearly $3.4 billion.

Second is Cardano ADA, with a staking rate of 65.53% since July, valued at $3.3 billion. Tezos XTZ follows as the third, with a staking rate of 79.48%. Valued at $1.38 billion, in February of this year, Tezos was still ranked first with a staking market value of $2.42 billion.

In addition to Ethereum's steadily growing staking rate, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) recently announced the launch of cash-settled Ethereum futures. According to their website, these futures will officially launch in February 2021, with each contract representing 50 ETH. CME stated that the introduction of Ethereum futures was in response to strong user demand.