The waiting line to leave the Ethereum (ETH-USD) network grew to a massive size on Sunday, May 3, 2026. This line, which is used by people who want to take their money out of the system, exploded by 72,000% in just two weeks. The sudden rush happened because a series of major hacks caused people to lose faith in the apps where they kept their digital money.
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Thieves Trigger a Massive Rush for the Exit
In the month of April, hackers managed to steal about $625 million in a string of digital robberies. One of the biggest thefts involved a bridge, which is a tool used to move money between different digital networks. In that single event, known as the KelpDAO bridge breach, criminals took roughly $292 million. Because of these attacks, people became scared and started pulling their money out as fast as possible.
Investors Fear for the Digital Safety of Their Assets
Many people use their Ethereum to earn rewards in digital apps that act like banks. When these apps get hacked, it makes everyone else want to leave before their money is gone, too. For example, a popular lending app called Aave saw the amount of money held in its system drop from $45.8 billion down to $28.6 billion.
A market expert named Checkmatey explained that people are leaving these apps because the risk of losing everything is now much higher than the chance of making a profit. He said, “Capital leaving all forms of ‘DeFi’ because the risk is heavily skewed towards a zero return OF capital”.
New ETH Stakers Maintain a Massive Line to Join the Network
Even though some people are running for the exit, many others are still trying to get into the Ethereum system. There is a separate waiting line for people who want to start helping ETH’s network to earn rewards.
This line currently has 3.6 million Ethereum in it, which would take about 62 days to get through. This shows that while some are scared by the hacks, many others still believe the network is a good place to keep their money for the long term. Total rewards for helping the network currently sit at about 2.92% per year.
At the time of writing, Ethereum’s price is sitting at around $2,345.
