Introducing: Submarine (Accelerated ETH Withdrawals via Consolidation)

Faster Withdrawals. More ETH.

Pier Two provides industry-leading Ethereum staking functionality, emphasizing flexible exit options. This flexibility is crucial for our clients to maximize staking positions and manage liquidity efficiently.

Today, Pier Two is excited to introduce Submarine. Based on our current understanding, Pier Two is the first to:

1. Discover the Submarine withdrawal method; and
2. Test it on testnet and mainnet.

Validator Withdrawal Optimization via Consolidation Queue

In Ethereum's Beacon Chain, three distinct churn limits regulate the movement of staked ETH and validator lifecycle changes per epoch, each associated with a separate queue.

1. Activation Queue: Limits new validators joining the active set.
2. Exit Queue: Limits how many validators can exit and withdraw their funds, ensuring network stability.
3. Consolidation Queue: (Added in Pectra upgrade) Limits ETH consolidation between source and target validators. A consolidation request has a mandatory delay of 256 epochs (~27.3 hours) after the source validator has exited before its balance can be transferred.

Bypassing the Long Exit Queue

When the Exit Queue is congested, the Consolidation Queue offers a potentially faster withdrawal route, thanks to two rules:

1. The automatic withdrawal sweep for Pectra validators only processes withdrawals (partial or full) if the validator's balance exceeds 2,048 ETH.
2. The Consolidation Queue is independent of the other queues.

The Submarine Strategy

A staker with a Pectra validator that has an active balance of 2,048 ETH can use it as the target validator. By timing the consolidation request correctly, the source validator’s balance transfers to the target, immediately exceeding the 2,048 ETH threshold. The Beacon Chain then processes an automatic withdrawal sweep for the target, effectively withdrawing the source validator's staked ETH sooner by bypassing the Exit Queue.

Submarine: Withdrawal Time Examples

While these scenarios assume submission exactly at the deadline epoch, submitting 3 to 5 epochs earlier is advised for reliable processing.

What's Next?

Pier Two is proud to have given its clients and partners early awareness of this feature. To learn more, and submarine your ETH today, reach out to Pier Two: https://piertwo.com/

If it’s gotta be staked. It’s gotta be Pier Two.