The time required to unlock staked cryptocurrency varies dramatically across major blockchains, ranging from no waiting period at all on Cardano to nearly a month on Polkadot, a reality that is forcing ETF sponsors to hold substantial reserves of unstaked assets to meet potential redemptions.

Data queried directly from network protocols and public queue statistics on September 13, 2026, shows Ethereum withdrawals currently take approximately eight days, Solana around a day and a half, Cosmos Hub exactly 21 days, and Polkadot 28 days. Cardano imposes no lock-up whatsoever. These figures rarely appear in wallet interfaces and shift with network congestion.

The disparity stems from a fundamental design question: how long does a network…