Validator Withdrawal Types
How Your Validator Gets Paid
Compounding (0x02), Sweeps (0x01), and legacy (0x00) — the three withdrawal credential types, and what each one means for the ETH you earn.
Your validator’s ‘type’ is a single byte — but it decides whether your Yield can’t move yet, sweeps to your wallet automatically, or compounds in place.
The 90-second version
What a validator ‘type’ actually is.
Every validator carries a withdrawal credential — a 32-byte field whose first byte is its ‘type.’ That single byte controls whether and how the ETH you earn reaches your wallet.
Everything below expands these three.
The three types
A precise, side-by-side look at 0x00, 0x01, and 0x02.
0x00 — legacy BLS (no withdrawals yet). Set at deposit before execution-address credentials existed. No withdrawals are possible until it’s upgraded to 0x01. Effective balance capped at 32 ETH. Historical — a validator only still has this if it was never upgraded.
0x01 — execution address (Sweeps). The post-Shapella standard. A Sweep withdrawal automatically pays out any balance above 32 ETH to your execution address on a rolling cadence — roughly every nine to twelve days. Effective balance is capped at 32 ETH. The default for most validators today.
0x02 — compounding (Compounding). Post-Pectra (EIP-7251). No sweep — the Yield compounds in place up to an effective-balance cap of 2,048 ETH. Withdrawals are explicit requests (EIP-7002, triggerable from the execution layer). Enables consolidation (merging validators). Opt-in.
Go deeper: the credential byte layout
The credential is 32 bytes. For 0x01 and 0x02, bytes [12:32] hold your 20-byte execution (withdrawal) address, with the prefix byte and 11 zero-padding bytes ahead of it. 0x00 instead holds a BLS public-key hash — which is why it has no execution address to withdraw to until you upgrade.
How we got three types
The three types arrived one upgrade at a time.
1 Dec 2020 — Beacon Chain genesis. Deposits use 0x00 (BLS); no withdrawals exist yet.
12 Apr 2023 — Shapella. 0x01 withdrawals go live; the one-time 0x00 → 0x01 upgrade path opens; the automatic sweep begins.
7 May 2025 — Pectra. 0x02 compounding validators arrive (EIP-7251); the 0x01 → 0x02 upgrade and consolidation land (EIP-7002).
Go deeper: why ‘Shapella’?
Ethereum’s upgrades ship in two coordinated halves — one on the execution layer, one on the consensus layer. The April 2023 upgrade was Shanghai (execution) + Capella (consensus), so the community calls the pair Shapella.
Want the full story? See Proof of Stake for why Ethereum stakes at all, and the Ethereum upgrade timeline for every fork in order.
Differences & benefits
The honest trade-offs — what each type means for you.
0x01 sweeps automatically — hands-off, but capped. Excess balance lands in your wallet automatically; there’s nothing to manage. The trade-off: effective balance is capped at 32 ETH, so Yield above that doesn’t compound — it leaves the validator.
0x02 compounding — grows, but manual. Yield compounds (a higher effective balance earns proportionally more), you can run fewer validators for the same stake, and consolidation cuts operational overhead. The trade-offs: you must actively request withdrawals (nothing auto-skims), and the upgrade is one-way.
0x00 — no benefit, just a to-do. You can’t withdraw anything until you upgrade.
Go deeper: why a bigger balance earns more
A validator’s consensus Yield scales with its effective balance — the protocol-tracked stake. At 0x01 that’s pinned at 32 ETH, so extra ETH is swept out rather than earning. At 0x02 the effective balance can grow, so the same ETH keeps working. (Real-world limits like the activation queue and churn apply — check a live explorer for current figures.)
Which type do I have?
How to tell — no login, no wallet connection, no PII.
The fastest check is a public block explorer. Look up your validator by index or public key and read its ‘Withdrawal Credentials’ field — the leading byte is your type. You can also read it from your deposit data or your validator client. None of this needs a login, a wallet connection, or any personal information.
Check yours on beaconcha.in (the ‘Withdrawal Credentials’ field), or read ethereum.org’s staking withdrawals guide.
Go deeper: reading the raw 32-byte field
The field is a 32-byte hex string. Byte 0 is the type (0x00/0x01/0x02); for 0x01/0x02 the last 20 bytes are your execution address and the 11 bytes between are zeros. So 0x01 + 11 zero bytes + your address is a standard sweeping validator.
How to upgrade or migrate
What each path does — and where the official tools are.
0x00 → 0x01 — a one-time unlock. Setting your withdrawal address. If you still hold 0x00, you cannot withdraw anything until you do this. It’s a one-time change.
0x01 → 0x02 — opt into compounding. A switch/consolidation request (EIP-7251). Irreversible — there’s no path back to 0x01.
Consolidation. You can merge several 0x01 validators into one 0x02 validator, reducing the number you run.
This page describes what each path does and whether it can be undone — it doesn’t tell you whether to upgrade. That’s your call.
Official tools: the Ethereum staking launchpad, ethereum.org staking docs, and your validator client’s own documentation. Every tool is externally maintained — always confirm on the official source.
Your validator type changes how your Income settles.
Your validator type changes how and when your Income actually settles on-chain. 0x01 produces frequent automatic sweeps — many small wallet receipts. 0x02 accrues in the validator and reaches your wallet only on an explicit withdrawal — fewer, larger receipts. That shifts when income is realized and how it reconciles to on-chain settlement. Accounting for it precisely, to the wei, across every type is exactly what TrueStake makes audit-defensible.
New to staking-income timing? Read when staking income is recognized.
Keep learning
Where to go next.
- Proof of Stake — why Ethereum stakes at all
- Ethereum upgrade timeline — every fork in order
- Glossary, incl. Sweep withdrawal, Withdrawal address, Validator
- How TrueStake reconciles to the wei
- All articles
- ethereum.org — staking, withdrawals, and upgrade history (https://ethereum.org/en/staking/)
- EIP-7251 — Increase the MAX_EFFECTIVE_BALANCE / compounding (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7251)
- EIP-7002 — Execution-layer triggerable withdrawals (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7002)
- EIP-4895 — Beacon chain push withdrawals (Capella) (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4895)
- beaconcha.in — validator lookup (live) (https://beaconcha.in)