Understanding Ethereum Validator Withdrawals
Learn about the technical background behind validator withdrawals and why many validators need to update their withdrawal credentials.
When you run an Ethereum validator, you actually need two sets of keys:
Validator Key (Hot Key)
Signs blocks and attestations. Always active and online.
Withdrawal Key (Cold Key)
Controls where your staked ETH and rewards can be withdrawn.
The Problem
When staking started with the Beacon Chain (December 2020), many validators only generated validator keys, without setting a withdrawal address. That meant rewards were accumulating, but there was no way to move them until a later upgrade.
The Shanghai/Capella upgrade finally enabled:
Partial Withdrawals
Sending earned rewards above 32 ETH to a withdrawal address automatically.
Full Withdrawals
Unstaking the whole 32 ETH + rewards, if the validator exits.
But here's the catch:
👉 To make withdrawals possible, your validator must have an "0x01 withdrawal credential", which points to an Ethereum execution-layer address (like your normal ETH wallet).
The Problem:
If you originally staked with an 0x00 withdrawal credential (BLS key, default in the early days), you cannot withdraw until you upgrade your withdrawal credentials to 0x01.
The Challenge:
Doing this safely requires special handling of your keys.
The Solution:
This is where Wagyu Key Gen and other tools come in — they help validators regenerate or migrate withdrawal keys without compromising their validator keys.
What This Tool Does:
Our tool generates the required BLS to Execution Change message that tells the Ethereum network to update your validator's withdrawal credentials from 0x00 (BLS) to 0x01 (execution address), enabling you to finally withdraw your staked ETH and accumulated rewards.