Holders lock up ETH and run software that validates transactions, and the network pays them for it by creating new ETH. Jérôme de Tychey, one of the proposal's authors, projects more than 70 million ETH staked by January 2028 if nothing changes. About 41 million ETH is staked today, or close to 34% of supply. Aave Labs chief executive Stani Kulechov said in a blog post that moving staking rewards toward zero would make ETH borrowing strategies mostly unviable. Much of the ETH borrowed on Aave is used to buy more staked ETH, data shows, a trade that only works while staking yields more than the loan costs.