Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche have become busier and cheaper to use over the past year, even as their token prices have fallen by roughly half or more. Bitwise released its first quarterly staking report, showing that onchain activity increased while transaction fees declined. The report found that 40.2 million ETH, about one‑third of the total supply, was staked at the end of the second quarter. Institutional participants, including ETFs and corporate treasuries, accounted for most of the new ETH added to the validator pool. Ethereum’s annualized staking yield was 2.84% in the second quarter, compared with 6.25% for Solana. More than 93% of Ethereum’s staking rewards and over 90% of Solana’s rewards came from newly issued tokens rather than user fees. The decline in yields was driven by protocol design that made blockspace cheaper and more abundant, and by the dilution of rewards as more participants staked. Benbrik of Bitwise said clients use staking to gain exposure to yield and onchain activity, and that liquid staking solutions allow them to earn yield while using the staked token in DeFi.