Ethereum's EIP-8061 allows faster exits but new validators still face waiting period to earn rewards

Although EIP-8061 removes the fixed cap on exits and scales exit capacity with active stake, new direct validators must still wait for activation, which retains a 256 ETH per epoch ceiling. As of Oct. 15, the Validator Queue showed 1,282,776 ETH waiting to enter staking with an estimated wait of 22 days, 6 hours. A new direct depositor earns no native validator rewards during this activation period, while liquid staking pools like Lido can provide exposure to rewards from already active validators.