On July 31, Thomas Brunner, head of custody and staking at Sygnum Bank, stated that the Ethereum validator entry queue has grown to about 2.5 million ETH, and new stakers need to wait about 43 days to be activated. However, this data cannot simply be seen as a bullish signal, because the backlog reflects both institutional demand and the impact of protocol mechanics. Brunner noted that the Dencun upgrade reduced the daily validator entry quota to about 57,600 ETH, and the Pectra upgrade did not increase this quota. Meanwhile, Pectra allows a single validator to hold up to 2,048 ETH and auto-compound, prompting large operators to add more stake to existing validators. Even adding just 1 ETH requires entering the same queue as new stakers. Therefore, part of the current backlog comes from reconfiguration and compounding of existing stakes, not entirely from new ETH demand. In contrast, the near-empty exit queue provides a clearer signal. Brunner said: "Almost no one is unstaking, which reflects real confidence; the entry queue measures both demand and infrastructure mechanics." Currently, about 41.2 million ETH is staked, accounting for 33.8% of the circulating supply. He also said that institutions have not stopped participating due to ETH's price weakness, and many now view staking yields as a native attribute of ETH. However, validator addresses, deposit addresses, and withdrawal credentials are all traceable, and privacy concerns remain a major obstacle to expanding institutional staking.