Ethereum exit queue balloons after restaked ETH hacks

Ethereum’s validator exit queue grew to 433,158 ETH on May 3, creating a seven-day wait for validators. The figure rose about 72,000% over two weeks, according to validatorqueue.com.

The surge followed heavy withdrawals from liquid restaking products after a series of DeFi exploits in April. Holders pulled tokens such as rsETH, and exit requests climbed sharply over a two-week period.

On April 18, a compromised cross-chain bridge linked to KelpDAO was exploited, draining about 116,500 rsETH, roughly $292 million in value. The cross-chain messaging protocol LayerZero attributed the breach to the Lazarus Group. April recorded about $625 million stolen across 30 separate incidents.

Lending and custody markets registered outflows after the breaches. Deposits on Aave fell from $45.8 billion to $28.6 billion as withdrawals increased. Total value locked in DeFi declined about 30% over the prior 12 weeks.

An on-chain analyst posted on X that capital was leaving DeFi because risk is heavily skewed to a total loss of capital.

The exit surge contrasts with a larger entry queue. Validatorqueue.com reported about 3.6 million ETH waiting to enter staking, producing an approximate 62-day wait — roughly seven times the exit queue. Total staked ether remained near 38.6 million ETH, about 31.72% of supply, with annual staking yields near 2.92% and nearly 900,000 active validators.

Security firms and protocol teams are investigating the April incidents. LayerZero’s attribution and concentrated losses in liquid restaking tokens have prompted scrutiny of cross-chain bridges and the custody models used by restaking services. Teams are reviewing risk assumptions and safeguards for assets routed through bridges and third-party staking wrappers.