[Active Ethereum Validators Drop to Approximately 863,000, Staked ETH Rises to 43.7 Million] According to a report by TheDefiant on October 7, the number of active Ethereum validators has dropped to approximately 863,000, a decrease of about 2.5% within seven days, significantly down from nearly 975,000 at the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the total amount of staked ETH has risen to approximately 43.7 million, up from about 36.3 million at the start of the year, now accounting for roughly 35.8% of the total supply. The report highlights that this inverse relationship is driven by the Pectra upgrade: EIP-7251 increases the effective balance cap for validators from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH, allowing operators to consolidate balances without withdrawal. Multiple validators can now be managed by a single entity, thereby reducing network messaging and signature overhead. The largest staking service provider, Lido, is merging over 265,000 validators into approximately 4,000. Additionally, both the validator exit and entry queues have been significantly extended.