The next big Ethereum (ETH) update is getting closer and closer: March’s highly anticipated Shanghai-Capella upgrade will finally allow ETH withdrawals. Last week, the Zhejiang testnet already launched and next Tuesday, February 7, the testnet will be accessible to the general public. Then the ‘Shapella fork’ is planned.
There were some config issues in launching the network, but the devops and client teams are looking into it. The Shapella fork is planned for Tuesday 3pm UTC 👀
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 2, 2023
Ethereum Shapella upgrade
Also known as Shapella, the Shanghai-Capella upgrade will, among other things, allow strikers to extract their ether from the Proof-of-Stake network. At the time of writing, this is not yet possible, leaving billions of dollars worth of ethereum tied up in the network.
To meet the March deadline, there are still a number of test phases on the program, Zhejiang being one of them. If everything goes according to plan, it will be possible to disconnect and sell your stake from March, if you are interested.
In that respect, it will also be an exciting period for the race. Ethereum and the rest of the market are finally experiencing a revival, but that revival could come to an end when billions of dollars worth of ethereum hit the market.
Is everyone going to sell ETH?
Of course, to really push the price down, everyone has to go into sell mode. However, the likelihood of people doing that under these circumstances seems small. There is finally talk of optimism again and at such moments there are often few people who press the sell button, as witnessed by the extreme price increases of the past few weeks.
Next week, validators will be able to practice unstaking ethereum on Zhejiang’s testnet for the first time. If all goes well, the upgrade is one step closer. After Zhejiang, a number of other testnets are planned.
This will leave more time for tooling & docs to be ready for the Goerli upgrade, which will be the last “dress rehearsal” prior to mainnet!
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 2, 2023
These include Sepolia and Goerli, two testnets that have been used in the past to also test the new Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. The Shanghai-Capella upgrade is expected to launch towards the end of March, according to Ethereum developer Tim Beiko.