Tim Beiko, Ethereum Lead Developer Announced the Shapella update is scheduled for February 28. The Shapella network update will go live on the Sepolia network in epoch 56832.
Shanghai and Capella (Shapella) are the upcoming Ethereum hard fork names. Shanghai is the name of the fork on the client side of the execution layer, and Capella is the name of the update on the client side of the consensus layer.
Some key Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) changes to the execution layer include a warm coin base (not to be confused with crypto exchange) and Beacon Chain push withdrawals. Automatic withdrawals will allow withdrawals from the Beacon Chain validator to the Ethereum virtual machine through a new type of “system level” operation. On the other hand, the warm coin base could be a game changer and lower network fees for builders.
Coinbase is the name of the software builders use to receive new tokens on the network. Each new platform transaction must interact with the coinbase software multiple times. The first interaction costs more as the software needs to “warm up”, and the fees decrease as interactions increase. However, with the introduction of EIP-3651, the coinbase software will stay hot to begin with, requiring a lower gas fee to access it.
Related: Ethereum On-Chain Data Suggests ETH Selling Pressure Might Not Be a Post-Shanghai Update Event
Major changes to the consensus layer include full and partial retirements for state and block independent historical accumulators and validators, replacing the original singular historical roots.
Partial withdrawal means that validators can withdraw Ether (ETH) rewards greater than 32 Ether and continue validating. If they want a full withdrawal, the validators can exit completely, take the 32 Ether and the rewards, and stop doing the work.
The upcoming update would allow validators to withdraw their staked Ether (stETH) from the Beacon Chain to the execution layer. Additionally, the update would bring changes to the execution and consensus layers, adding new features, making it a key post-merge update.
However, participants and non-participants operating nodes must update their nodes to the latest Ethereum client versions to take advantage of the Sepolia update. After the deployment of the Sepolia update, the next step would be the release of the Shanghai update. on the Ethereum Goerli testnet, which is expected to go live in March.
