PANews reported on October 17 that according to The Block, the income of Ethereum stakers is slowly declining, with a total of $174 million in September, down from a peak of $247 million in March, reflecting the decline in on-chain activity and the overall decline in market enthusiasm. The $174 million in pledger income in September was much higher than the $35.5 million in transaction fee income, highlighting the heavy reliance on block subsidies. Despite the decline in income, the number of validators continues to grow. Ethereum now has 1.09 million validators, showing increased participation in network security. Even with reduced individual rewards, the increase in the number of validators shows people's continued confidence in Ethereum's long-term prospects.

Since the merger, Ethereum's annual supply destruction rate has remained at -0.06%, effectively removing 861,000 ETH from circulation each year. However, since April, Ethereum supply has been observed to grow as fewer people are using the main chain, an observation that could lead to supply inflation. The highest annualized destruction rate was recorded on April 5th, at -0.38%, and has been steadily rising since then. In fact, the number of active addresses on Ethereum has also decreased, further indicating a decrease in on-chain activity.