Ethereum validator exits surged to a nine-month high following MetaMask's disclosure of a security incident. On-chain security researcher Kaden stated that approximately 17,000 MetaMask-operated validators, holding about 523,000 ETH, were actively exited. This followed an analysis that found transaction fee rewards from 18 out of 19 block-producing validators were transferred to addresses funded via Tornado Cash, with attackers stealing approximately 0.36 ETH. MetaMask has not confirmed these figures or disclosed the cause of the incident but stated that some of its infrastructure was compromised and it is preventatively exiting affected validators. Currently, about 773,447 ETH are awaiting exit from the validator set, with an estimated wait time of 13 days and 10 hours, plus an additional 7.6 days of withdrawal delay. Lido estimates that the complete exit, withdrawal, and re-entry process for MetaMask-related stakes could take up to 45 days, partly due to the current entry queue also being 27 days long.