The record surge in Ethereum staking in May was attributed to continued US debt ceiling confidence in the dollar, as well as bank failures and high APRs offered by ETH staking. The amount of pledged ETH also reached an all-time high of 2.96 million ETH in May, accounting for approximately 2.46% of the total supply. Staked ETH spiked significantly in the month following the Shapella upgrade on April 12, allowing validators to withdraw their staked ETH after two years. At the time, many believed that a large number of unstaked ETH could be a bearish event for the Ethereum network. However, after Shapella, it is estimated that less than 1% of all staked ETH was sold. In the week following Shapella, nearly a million ETH was withdrawn from the beacon chain by validators. However, since early May, the amount of ETH staked has exceeded the amount withdrawn. Currently, nearly 18% of all ETH staking is done in May. The U.S. debt ceiling incident and earlier bank failures have certainly affected Ether’s popularity, with more and more users preferring to put their funds into ETH rather than depositing funds in banks. With a current APR of around 5.4%, this offers better deposit terms than most banks in the world, making Ethereum a popular choice.