Coinbase is the largest single-node operator supporting staking activities on the Ethereum network.

According to its maiden Validator Performance report, the US-based exchange has staked 3.84 million ETH through 120,000 validators

Coinbase is the largest single-node operator supporting staking activities on the Ethereum network.

According to its maiden Validator Performance report, the US-based exchange has staked 3.84 million ETH through 120,000 validators, which represents 11.42% of the total staked ETH.

In addition to its direct staking operations, Coinbase has also staked an additional 581,500 ETH through partners as of March 4, 2025.

These combined staking operations place Coinbase in the lead among centralized competitors. For instance, Binance currently stakes around 2 million ETH, and Kraken approximately 1 million ETH, making Coinbase the largest node operator.

The company’s rapid expansion in Ethereum staking comes despite previous legal challenges from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The financial regulator had alleged that Coinbase’s staking services violated securities laws.

However, the exchange refuted these claims, maintaining that staking enhances blockchain security and does not meet the legal criteria stipulated in the US Securities Act or the Howey Test.

The Importance of High Performing Validators

Validators play a critical role in the network as they are responsible 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.

Coinbase explained that its validators are distributed across multiple jurisdictions, including Japan, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the exchange’s validators are utilizing multiple execution and consensus clients to further enhance security and decentralization. This approach minimizes the potential for network failures, reduces the threat of attacks, and ensures stable rewards.

As a result, the exchange explained that its 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 make Coinbase the largest individual node operator on the network.

According to him:

“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).”

Data from Dune Analytics shows that Lido continues to be the dominant force in Ethereum staking, having more than 9 million ETH staked, which is about 27.3% of the total staking market.