Coinbase stands as the largest single-node operator supporting staking on the Ethereum network. According to its first Validator Performance report, the US-based exchange has staked 3.84 million ETH through 120,000 validators, representing 11.42% of the total staked ETH. Beyond its direct operations, Coinbase has also staked an additional 581,500 ETH through partners as of March 4, 2025. This solidifies Coinbase’s lead among centralized competitors with Binance staking around 2 million ETH and Kraken about 1 million ETH. Coinbase’s rapid growth in Ethereum staking continues despite past legal challenges from the SEC, which alleged that the exchange’s staking services violated securities laws. However, Coinbase has refuted these claims, asserting that staking enhances blockchain security and does not meet the legal criteria in the US Securities Act or the Howey Test.

**Validator Performance:**
Validators are crucial for verifying and validating new transactions and blocks on the blockchain. The report highlights Coinbase’s efficiency, with its validators achieving a 99.75% uptime and participation rate. The validators are distributed across several jurisdictions, including Japan, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, and Hong Kong. Coinbase utilizes multiple execution and consensus clients to enhance security and decentralization, reducing network failures, mitigating potential attacks, and ensuring stable rewards. Consequently, the validators have a perfect track record of never double-signing or being slashed.

**Largest Node Operator:**
Anthony Sassano, an Ethereum educator and founder of The Daily Gwei, noted that these figures establish Coinbase as the largest individual node operator on the network. According to Sassano, “Coinbase is the single largest node operator on the network (Lido is bigger as a collective, but each node operator has a much smaller % share).” Dune Analytics data shows that Lido remains dominant in Ethereum staking, with over 9 million ETH staked, representing approximately 27.3% of the total staking market.

Coinbase strengthens its position as the largest independent node operator on Ethereum. #Ethereum #Crypto #Coinbase