Introduction

This dashboard has been created with the intention to analyze the ETH staking deposits and withdrawals over the past and posterior closer Ethereum merge event days in order to track the impact of the recent Merge event.

Until now the most popular active platforms that avoid staking have been the following:

• Stakewise: is available on the MEW web interface where users have the option to stake any amount of ETH and begin earning rewards. In order to participate, users need to deposit ETH in exchange for sETH2, which is the Stakewise pool token used to represent users’ staking deposits. Each ETH deposit into the Stakewise pool mints sETH2 in a 1:1 ratio to ETH (1 ETH = 1 sETH2).
• Stkr: is a DeFi protocol for Ethereum 2.0 staking and liquidity. The Stkr platform enables ETH 2.0 staking for all parties — including those who don’t have the required amount of ETH. Moreover, Stkr addresses the illiquidity issue with a synthetic asset called aETH.
• CREAM Finance: is a decentralized lending protocol for individuals and protocols to access financial services. The protocol is permissionless, transparent and non-custodial. Users can stake their ETH which will be automatically switch to crETH2.
• Rocket Pool: is Ethereum's decentralized set of next-generation Proof of Stake (PoS) in alpha and created to be compatible with Casper, the new consensus protocol expected in 2018. Unlike traditional centralized Proof of Work (PoW) clusters, Rocket Cluster uses the power of smart contracts to create a self-regulating and decentralized smart node network. Rocket Pool is composed of 3 primary elements; Smart Contracts, smart nodes, and minipools. All three integrate with each other to provide a new type of network that can automatically scale, load balance, and self-monitor across multiple cloud hosting providers in any region of the world.
• Lido Finance: is a popular "liquid" staking service. Users can deposit tokens such as Ethereum, Polygon, Polkadot, and other proof-of-stake (PoS) tokens using the protocol to earn an attractive return on their holdings. In exchange for the deposit, users earn a low-staking version of their holdings. Depositing Ethereum, for example, earns "staked Ethereum" or stETH. This deposit token can be used elsewhere to earn more yield within the (DeFi) space.

Sources:

• Stakewise definition
• Ankr network: Stkr
• Cream Finance staking on Ethereum
• Rocketpool explained
• Ethereum Lido finance

Methods

In this dashboard we are gonna track several interesting metrics about the liquid staking/unstaking ETH through these platforms over the previous days before the Ethereum Merge event and one week after to see if there was an abnormal activity or not. In order to perform a good analysis, we will consider the following metrics:

• Amount of ETH staked/unstaked over the past month in a daily basis
• The number of unique depositors/withdrawers over the past month in a daily basis
• How likely have been depositors/withdrawers to use multiple platforms vs using a single platform
• The average/median/maximum/minimum of ETH deposits through each platform
• The distribution of ETH deposits/withdrawals

To be able to track the deposits into these platforms, I have used the Ethereum ez_token_transfers, except for the Cream Finance direct staking for which I used the Ethereum fact_transactions table. The different contract addresses I used to filter the data have been the following:

• Stakewise: '0xC874b064f465bdD6411D45734b56fac750Cda29A'
• Ankr(stkr): '0x84db6eE82b7Cf3b47E8F19270abdE5718B936670'
• Cream Finance staking: '0x49D72e3973900A195A155a46441F0C08179FdB64' and ‘0xcBc1065255cBc3aB41a6868c22d1f1C573AB89fd’ (previously hacked)
• Rocket_pool: '0x4D05E3d48a938db4b7a9A59A802D5b45011BDe58'
• Lido: '0xae7ab96520DE3A18E5e111B5EaAb095312D7fE84'

For the withdrawals, I have used the ez_dex_swaps to be able the unstake actions of each token. For that I have considered the following symvol depedning on each platform:

• Stakewise: sETH2
• Ankr: aETH
• Cream Finance: crETH2
• Rocketpool: rETH
• Lido: stETH

The analysis starts with some comparison between some activity metrics related to deposits and withdrawals on the top liquid staking platforms on Ethereum. Considering a global vision, we can see how in both cases, the leading platform is Lido, followed by Rocketpool. The other compared platforms (Ankr and Stakewise) present lower numbers.

In the case of deposits, Lido registered between 200 and 800 daily deposits while Rocketpool not registered any day above 200 deposits during the weeks prior to merge. The withdrawals have been a little bit less. Lido registered between 200 and 400 actions while Rocketpool lower than 200 again. In this case, the Stakewise presents daily numbers closer to the top platforms, registering around 30 withdrawals per day and reaching a highest number of 109. However, the activity has increased in all the cases since the merge, mainly for Lido who increased its difference against the other platforms.

In terms of number of depositors and removers, it can be seen a great difference in Lido platform, having more than 3k depositors and around 400 unique withdrawers. It is clear that despite the Merge event, the Lido users chosen to continue staking on it platform than retire their ETH. In Rocketpool the numbers are also in favour of depositors but in a closer range. On the other way around, on Stakewise and ANkr platforms, more users withdrawn their ETH than deposited.

Regarding the volume of ETH moved, it can be seen how there is an evidence that in general, more ETH have been removed from the staking than deposited. In this case, in all of the platforms, more ETH were removed during the previous week of the merge than deposited. But it seems that after the merge, the numbers turned similar. The biggest difference was registered on September 15th, the date previous to the merge, when more than 60k ETH were removed, the major part from Lido, and no more than 3k ETH were deposited. During those week, a total of more than 150k ETH were removed and less than 14k ETH were deposited.

Looking at the crossovers between platforms, we can see how in this case it can be clearly seen that more movements were made between platforms regarding unstaking actions than staking ones. While users deposited as maximum in two different platforms, there have been some users that withdrawn from three different platforms and one of them removed from the four distinct analyzed platforms.

Another important think is the different behavior between depositors and removers. While depositors only use the platform between 1 or 2 times in average, being more active the group that deposited in two different platforms, the withdrawers used the platform more times in general, basically for users who removed from two different platforms have an average higher than 4.5 actions, users who removed from three different platforms higher than 7 actions and who removed from the four platforms reached 19 actions!

As well, the average ETH deposited has been lower than the average removed as expected taking into accoutn previous cumulative ETHs. In the case of deposits, for users who joined only 1 platform deposited an average of 3 ETH and those who joined 2 platforms had an average of 14 ETH. In the case of removers, users who withdrawn from only 1 platforms remvoed an average of 93 ETH - user who removed from the 4 platforms had similar average. Who removed from 2 different platforms had an average of 200 ETH, and those who withdrawn from 3 platforms had the lower average of 40 ETH, being also higher than any of the deposits average.

Finally, if we take a look at the distribution amount of ETH deposited and compared to the ETH withdrawn, we can see as well how the percentage of high volumes is higher for withdrawns than for deposits in all of the platforms.

The major evidence is shown on Lido and Rocketpool, where more than 90% of them were deposits below 10 ETH. In terms of removals, it represents less tha 70%. It is important to say that in Lido, the percentage of withdrawns between 100 and 1k ETH represents almost 12%. In the case of Ankr, 100% of the deposits were below 10ETH while in withdrawns it represented 73%. Finally, Stakewise seems to be the platforms with more similar distributions. In fact, the percentage of deposits below 10 ETH and the withdrawns below 10 ETH is practically the same. However, in withdrawals, there are more actions above 1 ETH and appeared some withdrawals over 100 ETH.

Key insights

• The leading platform is Lido, followed by Rocketpool

• The activity has increased in all the cases since the merge, mainly for Lido who increased its difference against the other platforms.

• There is an evidence that in general, more ETH have been removed from the staking than deposited. In this case, in all of the platforms, more ETH were removed during the previous week of the merge than deposited.

• The ETH staked and removed has been similar since the merge.

• The biggest difference was registered on September 15th, the date previous to the merge, when more than 60k ETH were removed, the major part from Lido, and no more than 3k ETH were deposited.

• During those week, a total of more than 150k ETH were removed and less than 14k ETH were deposited.

• More movements were made between platforms regarding unstaking actions than staking ones. While users deposited as maximum in two different platforms, there have been some users that withdrawn from three different platforms and one of them removed from the four distinct analyzed platforms.

• The percentage of high volumes is higher for withdrawns than for deposits in all of the platforms.

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