We’ll be there soon, with the announcement of the launch date of the Shanghai update on the Sepolia testnet. Firmly awaited by the validators, this is part of a context of the first major change since The Merge. The Shanghai update is expected to begin the process of changing Ethereum for years to come.
News that comes as Ethereum is still struggling to take off. The crypto is indeed still timid on its progression in value. While some analysts saw ETH above $2000 in the near future, the reality is quite different at the moment. Nevertheless, the Shanghai update could well bring a good boost to ETH.
Shanghai Capella of Ethereum, announced for February 28, 2023
The dev team has finally revealed the date on which the second try of the Shanghai update will take place. This one is scheduled for February 28 and should make it possible to validate a next step in the development process of the Shanghai update,
Normally, everything should go well, the last “Zhejiang” test phase having been a great success. During the latter, only a few minor bugs could be found which have since been fixed. The test will be done on the Sepolia testnet which is an even closer network version of Ethereum.
After deploying Shapella on the Sepolia testnet, developers will only need to launch their version of the Shanghai update on their other testnet, “Goerli”. Although somewhat tedious, these steps are necessary to guarantee a smooth entry of the update on the network of the ETH token.
But rest assured, Goerli is the last stop before the final release of the Shanghai update. The developers have also planned for this month of March 2023.
The Shanghai Update: The Foundation Stone for Ethereum 2.0
This feature comes as part of Ethereum’s move from PoW (Proof-of-Work) to PoS (Proof-of-Stake). Because yes, even if Ethereum has moved to a system that is supposed to be much less energy intensive and faster, it still has to build all the infrastructure around it. The Merge is just the highway that has yet to accommodate all the vehicles that are supposed to make it so successful.
So, the Shanghai update is the first building block of The Merge which should allow validators to finally withdraw their rewards. For some, they have been “staking” tokens for years now without knowing when they will be able to withdraw them. A somewhat risky bet, which could finally bear fruit.
The withdrawal of rewards, the starting signal for a massive influx of validators
So yes, even if we may experience a wave of significant token supply coming from validators, this news should however have a positive impact on the price of ETH in the short or medium term. Because with the possibility of withdrawing ETH tokens, some validators will see this as an opportunity to get started too.
Thus, we could see a large amount of new ETH validators arriving in a short time. If it takes a total of 32 ETH to become a validator, pools are available to allow several small investors to come together to form this famous block of 32 ETH. Anyone can therefore become a validator and receive rewards in ETH tokens! Enough to motivate the crowds and potentially drive up the price of crypto soon.