Analysis of Figment’s 12 million ETH staked and market share

Validator reliability and reward data

Figment validators maintained a 99.9% participation rate throughout the first quarter of 2026. This exceeds the network average of 99.7%. The provider recorded zero double-sign slashing events during this period. The network saw 33 slashing events. Consensus layer rewards comprised 93% of total validator rewards in Q1 2026. Execution layer rewards made up the remaining 7%. Figment validators proposing blocks received a median of 0.010827 ETH. This figure exceeds the network median of 0.010017 ETH by more than 7%.

The infrastructure follows a "Safety Over Liveness" philosophy. This approach prioritizes slashing avoidance and capital protection over marginal uptime or short-term performance gains. The architecture separates validator operations, key management, and governance controls to reduce correlated risk. Figment uses multi-client infrastructure and supports both Lighthouse and Prysm clients. This reduces dependency on a single codebase. The provider also integrates MEV-Boost with multiple OFAC-compliant relays. The interquartile range for daily staking reward rates remains tighter for Figment than for its peers.

Consensus layer rewards come from protocol issuance through attestations and block proposals. Execution layer rewards come from user priority fees and MEV. Because execution layer rewards are market-driven, they introduce variability. In Q1 2026, consensus layer rewards provided a reliable floor for all validators.

Regulatory shifts and the BlackRock impact

The March 17, 2026, joint interpretive release from the SEC and CFTC clarifies that federal securities laws do not apply to staking rewards earned through protocol staking on decentralized proof-of-stake networks. This regulatory shift follows the launch of BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust on March 12, 2026. The fund delegates 70% to 95% of its ETH holdings to professional validators. Figment acts as one of the selected providers for these operations. You should know that BlackRock retains 18% of gross staking rewards as a service fee. The fund also charges an annual management fee of 0.25%.

After management fees, the net yield for investors falls between 2.3% and 2.5%. This calculation assumes an annualized on-chain staking yield of 2.8% to 3.1%. The fund operates as a Delaware statutory trust. It holds spot ETH on-chain. The SEC and CFTC framework distinguishes between decentralized and centralized staking. Decentralized staking includes self-custodial delegation where the user retains control of their keys. Centralized services involve pooled staking where the provider controls asset allocation. The SEC focuses on three factors: asset control, return generation, and discretion.

Will other asset managers follow BlackRock’s lead in staking large holdings through third-party providers? The success of the BlackRock fund suggests that institutions can access native yields through a regulated wrapper.

Market diversification and liquid staking

Lido’s dominance in the liquid staking market decreased as competition increased. Lido holds a 24.4% market share, which is down from its 32.3% peak in late 2023. Figment added approximately 344,000 ETH in new stakers last month. This growth follows the SEC decision that staking does not constitute a securities activity. I find the concentration of staking in a handful of institutional providers to be a significant concern for network security.

The liquid staking market reached a total value exceeding $50 billion in 2025. Most liquid staking protocols issue tokens that signify ownership rather than profit-sharing rights. Liquid staking tokens like stETH and rETH allow users to participate without the 32 ETH minimum. This market includes node staking through wallets and decentralized protocols. The market remains divided between native staking, liquid staking, and wallet-supported staking.

The total ETH staked reached 35.85 million ETH in early 2026. This represents 28.91% of the total ETH supply. The network has over 1.1 million active validators. As of October 2025, compounding validators held 3,580,916 ETH. This represented about 10.03% of all staked Ethereum.

Institutional requirements and fees

Institutions evaluate providers based on validator performance and regulatory support. Kiln provides enterprise staking APIs and non-custodial architecture. Coinbase Institutional provides an integrated custody and staking model. Figment provides a non-custodial infrastructure model. Clients retain full control of their keys.

Figment monetizes its infrastructure through specific fee structures. For its Ethereum app, Figment takes a service fee of 30% of execution-layer rewards. This fee is collected through an audited, customer-specific on-chain smart contract. The Pectra upgrade raised the maximum validator effective balance to 2,048 ETH. This change allows institutions to manage large stakes with fewer validators.

Banks and asset managers look for geographic redundancy and disaster recovery planning. They evaluate providers on historical validator performance and missed attestation rates. Figment’s SOC2 certification and OFAC-compliant relays support these requirements. Implementation effort centers on API wiring and reporting into finance systems. Most institutions use staking infrastructure providers while they maintain ownership of assets through custodians.