On March 28, the Ethereum protocol support team posted an update on the release date for the Shapella mainnet. They confirmed that the hard fork will happen on April 12, two weeks from now.
Shapella is the new name for the Shanghai update, as it combines changes to the Execution Layer (Shanghai), Consensus Layer (Capella), and Engine API.
The date announcement comes after a smooth transition of the Goerli testnet. Additionally, bug bounty rewards have been doubled until April 5 for those looking for Shapella vulnerabilities.
it’s happening 🎊
Shapella is scheduled on mainnet for epoch 194048, scheduled for 22:27:35 UTC on April 12, 2023 📆
The client versions supported by the update are listed in the announcement below 👇https://t.co/I0hSv9lnjz
— timbeiko.eth ☀️ (@TimBeiko) March 28, 2023
Ethereum clients are ready
the blog post cleared up that the update allows validators to pull their stake out of the Beacon Chain back to the execution layer.
“It also introduces new functionality in both the execution and consensus layers,” he added.
All major Ethereum clients including Lighthouse, Lodestar, Nimbus, Prysm, and Teku now support the Shapella upgrade.
EthStaker and Ethereum Cat Herders will host a Shapella viewing party starting shortly before the update goes live so people can follow it in real time.
There have been concerns that a large amount of Ethereum will be withdrawn and sold to the markets after the hard fork. However, this is unlikely to happen due to the phased release, which was implemented for network security purposes.
The ETH withdrawal period is dynamic and depends on how many validators are leaving at the time. Additionally, validators must go through a two-stage process to withdraw, this includes an exit queue and a withdrawal period.
A network security mechanism called “dropout limit” defines the output queue and maintains stability. The withdrawal period again depends on the amount of ETH that is marked for removal from the ecosystem.
There are currently around 17.9 million ETH staked on the Beacon Chain. At current prices, this is valued at around $32 billion and represents about 15% of the total circulating supply.
ETH Price Outlook
Ethereum prices have gained around 3.8% in the last 24 hours. As a result, ETH was trading at $1,780 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.
The asset has recouped all the losses from the crash induced by the CFTC Binance lawsuit news yesterday and is on track to break $1,800 again.
Ethereum is currently down 63.5% from its November 2021 all-time high of $4,878.
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