“Withdrawals are coming! The Shapella network upgrade will activate on the Sepolia network at epoch 56832, scheduled for 4:04:48 AM UTC on Feb. 28, 2023.”
Ethereum core developers have scheduled the Shapella upgrade on the Sepolia network for February 28.
As per the blog post by the Ethereum Foundation, the Shapella network upgrade will make changes to the Engine API and the consensus and execution layers.
The Shapella upgrade, named after Shanghai and Capella, will allow validators to withdraw their staked Ethereum tokens from the Beacon chain to the execution layer. The update will also implement other Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). These include EIP-3855 to reduce contract code size and EIP-3860 to limit the size of the initcode.
The blog post clarified that Ethereum holders are not required to download any updates. However, staking node operators will need to update their nodes to maintain compatibility with the Shapella upgrade. Otherwise, their Ethereum clients will sync to the pre-fork blockchain, rendering them unable to operate on the post-Shapella network.
The price of the Ethereum token dropped following the announcement. As of writing, Ethereum (ETH) is valued at $1632, down by 1.9% in the last 24 hours.
After Shapella’s release, developers will launch the Shanghai upgrade on the Goerli testnet before its implementation on the mainnet in March 2023. The much-anticipated upgrade will allow users to fully withdraw their staked Ethereum assets.
Written by
Dean Fankhauser
Dean has an economics and startup background which led him to create Bitcompare. He primarly writes opinion pieces for Bitcompare. He's also been a guest on BBC World, and interviewed by The Guardian and many other publications.
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