Solo staked ETH (your own validators) as proof of funds
You run your own validators, or a provider runs them with your address as the withdrawal address. Your wallet shows whatever was left after sending 32 ETH per validator to the deposit contract, which is to say, not much. The stake is on the beacon chain, attributed to your address by its withdrawal credentials. RealOpen reads it from there and counts it toward your Proof of Funds as staked ETH.
You do not need to exit to verify or to get the letter. You need the withdrawal address, and about ten minutes.
What you need
The wallet address your validators use as their withdrawal address (0x01 or 0x02 credentials), and a RealOpen account. No validator keys, no node access, no staking-provider login, nothing custodial. Ownership is proven the same way as any wallet: a signed message or a small transfer from the withdrawal address.
Key Points
The withdrawal address of your validators
A wallet that can sign the verification message from that address (or send a small transfer)
No exits, no key material, no third-party access
Step by step
Confirm your validators’ withdrawal credentials. They need to be 0x01 or 0x02 credentials pointing at the wallet address you are going to verify.
On RealOpen, add that withdrawal address as a new wallet (Wallets, then Add wallet).
Verify ownership: sign the RealOpen verification message from that address, or send the small verification transfer from it.
RealOpen looks up the validators whose withdrawal credentials are that address, reads each validator’s balance, and groups them by state: active, activating, exiting, or exited.
Generate your Proof of Funds letter. The validator balances are counted as ETH at the ETH rate and disclosed as staked.
New to RealOpen wallet verification? The ownership guide covers the signature and transfer options in detail.
Why the ETH is not in your wallet
Activating a validator sends 32 ETH to the Ethereum deposit contract. From that moment the balance lives on the beacon chain, inside the validator, not in any execution-layer account. Explorers show the deposit as an outbound transfer to the deposit contract, and the wallet balance drops by 32 ETH per validator. To a naive proof-of-funds check, that ETH is gone.
The thing that ties the validator back to you is its withdrawal credential. Validators with 0x01 credentials, or 0x02 credentials for validators consolidated to a higher balance, name an execution-layer address, and every withdrawal, partial or full, is paid to it. That is the address RealOpen attributes by. Older 0x00 credentials name no address and have to be updated before the validator can be attributed to a wallet.
How RealOpen attributes the position
When you verify the withdrawal address, RealOpen looks up every validator whose withdrawal credentials point at it, reads each validator’s current balance and state from the beacon chain, and groups them:
Active: attesting and earning; needs a voluntary exit before the balance can move.
Activating: deposited, waiting in the activation queue.
Exiting: exit requested; the balance is swept to your address after the withdrawable epoch.
Exited: exit complete, balance awaiting the sweep. Once swept, the ETH is back in your transferable balance and the validator drops off the staking list.
Positions are recorded with their provenance: the number of validators in each state, the data source and lookup used, and when it was read. This read depends on RealOpen’s beacon-chain data source, which is why the feature is described as supported where the withdrawal address is the verified wallet. If the source is unavailable, the check is recorded as skipped rather than silently returning zero, and staff can see that on the wallet.
Kiln-style native staking, and any institutional or provider setup where your address is the withdrawal address, is covered the same way; the chain does not care who runs the node. Platform-managed staking where the platform holds the withdrawal credentials is not attributable from public chain data. RealOpen staff can review it as an operator-attested position with documentation.
How it appears in your dashboard and on the letter
Under the verified wallet, each state shows its total, the protocol, and the liquidity, for example:
64 ETH · Staked · Ethereum validator · Unstaking required
32 ETH · Ethereum validator · Activating
32 ETH · Ethereum validator · Unstaking (exiting)
32 ETH · Ethereum validator · Ready to claim (exited, awaiting sweep)
Validator balances count toward your verified total at the ETH RealScore rate and are disclosed on the letter as staked, not immediately transferable. Anything already swept to your address is ordinary ETH and shows as available. Compare a liquid staking token, which reads 5 stETH · Lido · Transferable token and needs no exit at all. See how staked value and available value are treated across every supported chain.
What happens before closing
RealOpen converts your crypto at close and wires dollars to escrow, so the ETH you intend to spend must be in your transferable balance when funds are due. Validator balances are not, and there is no shortcut: exit, then wait for the sweep.
Submit a voluntary exit for as many validators as you need. RealOpen shows them as Unstaking (exiting).
Wait for the exit to process. Days, and longer when the exit queue is busy; the queue is shared with every other exiting validator on the network.
Wait for the withdrawal sweep. After the withdrawable epoch, the full balance is paid to your withdrawal address automatically; there is no claim transaction.
The swept ETH is transferable and can be sent to RealOpen for conversion at closing.
Partial withdrawals never needed your help: rewards above the validator’s maximum effective balance are swept to the withdrawal address on a rolling basis and are already in your available ETH. Start any full exit early in escrow. If you would need to exit more validators than you want to lose, fund the purchase from other verified assets; the validators still support the letter.
The short version
Validators whose withdrawal credentials are your verified wallet are attributed to it and read from the beacon chain: active, activating, exiting, exited.
They count as ETH at the ETH rate and are disclosed as staked. Kiln-style native staking with your address as the withdrawal address is covered; platform-held credentials go through staff review.
Verify without exiting. Exit early enough that the sweep lands in your transferable balance before funds are due at closing.
Yes, where the withdrawal address is your verified wallet. Validators with 0x01 or 0x02 withdrawal credentials pointing at the address you verified are attributed to it, their balances are read from the beacon chain, and they appear as Staked · Ethereum validator under that wallet.
Because it left. Activating a validator sends 32 ETH to the deposit contract, and the balance lives on the beacon chain from then on, not in your execution-layer account. The only link back to you is the withdrawal credential, which is exactly what RealOpen attributes by.
No. Verification reads the validator balances where they sit and the letter counts them as staked ETH. You need transferable ETH by the time funds are due at closing, which for a validator means a voluntary exit followed by the withdrawal sweep.
Days, and longer when the exit queue is busy. After the exit is processed there is a further wait until the balance is swept to the withdrawal address. Start early in escrow. If you would rather keep the validators running, fund the purchase from other verified assets; the staked ETH still supports the letter.
Rewards above the validator’s maximum effective balance are swept to your withdrawal address automatically on a rolling basis, so they arrive in your transferable ETH without any action and are counted there. The balance still on the validator is counted as staked.
If the provider runs native validators whose withdrawal address is your wallet, yes: the chain attributes them to you and RealOpen reads them like any other validator. If the platform holds the withdrawal credentials, the chain cannot tie the stake to your address; RealOpen staff can review it as an operator-attested position with documentation.
Two things. Attribution follows the withdrawal credential, so only validators whose credentials point at your verified address can be tied to you. And reading validator balances depends on RealOpen’s beacon-chain data source; where it is unavailable, the scan records the check as skipped rather than reporting zero, and staff can see that on your wallet.