The 13,900 nodes supporting the Ethereum network are now running more than 1 million validators.

The increase in validators is needed to allow the nodes to stake more ether on the network. These validators are staking over 32 million of ether, worth more than $114 billion at current prices. This accounts for roughly 26% of the total supply, according to The Block's Data Dashboard.

Validators on Ethereum — such as on other networks — help maintain the blockchain's security by proposing and validating blocks, thus ensuring consensus. They do so by staking 32 ether in return for staking rewards.

Staking platform Lido — which allows users to stake smaller amounts of ether — accounts for around 30% of the staked ether, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard created by Dragonfly …