A little over a month ago, ethereum underwent a major technical upgrade that allowed investors to withdraw their “staked” or locked-up tokens on the network for the first time ever. Dubbed Shanghai, or Shapella, the change aims to bring more liquidity to the network by allowing investors to withdraw their staked assets. There were initial concerns that potential selling pressure could hit the market as a result. However, more fluidity also means that developers can create better and more differentiated applications on the web. The price of ether has fallen about 14% in the past month, but is still up more than 50% so far this year, according to Coin Metrics. Many of the downtrends are more closely tied to investor concerns about the economy and the possibility of a recession, as well as the health of the U.S. banking sector. However, the staking trend exceeded expectations. According to ethereum blockchain data tracker Beaconcha.in, as of Tuesday, the total amount of ether staked was about 18.2 million, and there were about 573,000 validators on the network, who earned an average return of 5.5 percent. Fees on ethereum are at their highest level in a year, according to CryptoQuant, leading to higher yields for investors holding ether. The total value of Ether staked rose, while the supply dropped dramatically. “In the month since (Shapella) staking inflows to Ethereum hit an all-time high, so more and more investors are recognizing ETH, especially pledged ETH, as a competitor to U.S. Treasuries with yields equivalent to 5% % and are now below 30 days,” said Matthew Sigel, director of digital asset research at VanEck. “After the initial withdrawal backlog… now the backlog for withdrawing ETH is down to zero days and there is a backlog of 30 days going into the staking queue. So compared to what we expected a month ago, we’ve completely flipped ,” he added. The backlog of withdrawals in April was dominated by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, which was forced out of the staking business by the SEC in February. Investors who can withdraw tokens at any given time thanks to a two-day “unbonding” period — the amount of time blockchain delegators wait before moving or selling tokens — and a variable exit queue Quantities are limited based on the number of people in line. Some expect investors to wait as long as 30 to 60 days to exit after Shapella. Here’s what else has happened in the month since Shapella: 1. ETH Stakes Hit All-Time High ETH Stakes hit an all-time high of 21 million ETH, with daily average staking hitting the highest level since November 2020, according to CryptoQuant. Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer, said many feared that investors would immediately jump at the opportunity to put millions of ether into the market as the new feature rolled out. “It looks like the initial selling pressure has passed and people are now feeling more comfortable betting,” he said. “That’s how you get more investors back.” 2. Higher fees Fees soared to their highest level in a year as network activity surged, according to CryptoQuant. Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani noted in a note Monday that some skeptics believe ether’s yields could drop as stakes increase. However, so far, ETH fees have outpaced growth in ether volume, leading to higher yields, he said. 3. More depositors on the network The number of new stakers has increased since Shapella. According to Julio Moreno of CryptoQuant, the number of independent depositors has grown by about 8% since April 12, and people are more willing to lock up funds for returns because they can also withdraw funds.