The number of Ether (ETH) deposited on the smart contract of Ethereum 2.0 has surged high. There is now more ETH available in the deposit contract than the required threshold. According to the data provided by the on-chain tracking firm Dune Analytics, more than 700,000 in Ether have been deposited in the smart contract so far. This number has exceeded the threshold of 524,288 ETH required for the launch of the beacon chain.

33% higher than the required threshold

As per Dune Analytics’ data, there is now $425 million worth of Ether (around 708,224 ETH) locked on the deposit contract address of Ethereum 2.0. This number of locked ETH is approximately 33 percent higher than the required threshold.

Initially, the deposit contract witnessed low participation from validators when it went live at the beginning of this month. Just a few validators sent an amount of only 50,000 ETH to the deposit contract within the duration of the first week. The Founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin deposited around 3,200 ETH at that time.

However, since the 19th of November, the deposit ratio has got shot up especially on the late night of November 23. Reportedly, the number of ETH deposited to the smart contract reached its minimum threshold nine hours before the deadline of November 24.

With the completion of the minimum threshold, the Ethereum Foundation is now ready to initiate the launch of the beacon chain of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade which is scheduled to occur on the 1st of December.

Ethereum becomes the sixth-largest PoS blockchain

With the staking skyrocketing above the figure of 700,000, the world’s second-largest blockchain network Ethereum has become one of the largest Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains. In terms of the number of assets staked, Ethereum has become the sixth-largest PoS blockchain, according to the data presented by Staking Rewards.

The industry insider Cooper Turley said in a statement that the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain’s depositors and validators are already more in numbers than that of some other top blockchains such as Cosmos and Tezos. As Turley said:

“For perspective, the number of Eth2 depositors and validators is already higher than validators on some of the top proof-of-stake chains, including Tezos, Cosmos, and Polkadot.”