This February, Ethereum will reportedly launch Zhejiang, the general rehearsal testnet for its Shanghai hard fork.
The Ethereum network is ready to test staking withdrawals on its Zhejiang testnet today, February 1. according to reports, this public withdrawal testnet is the first of its kind since the Merge update last September. Ethereum developers also plan to launch testnets for the Shanghai and Capella projects in February, six days after Zhejiang goes online.
Multiple core developers say the Shanghai release is going on schedule and is on track for an early spring release.
Ethereum Foundation Developer Talks Zhejiang February Testnet
weighing On the testnet, Ethereum Foundation developer Parithosh Jayanthi noted:
“This is also a great opportunity for all the tools to test how they want to collect, display, and use withdrawal information. You can try to convert the 0x00 credentials to 0x01 and set a withdrawal address. You can test partial withdrawals and full withdrawals by exiting your validator.”
The full implementation of the Shanghai update will facilitate the withdrawal of Ether (ETH) staked by users. The success of the Ethereum Merge update in September has seen users staking their token on the less power consuming proof-of-stake network. However, a large amount of funds remain locked, awaiting a new patch that the network’s upcoming dress rehearsals seek to adequately address. This massive amount of unclaimed capital has also seen the Shanghai launch schedule come under careful and intense monitoring.
Although Zhejiang is still in beta, its full withdrawal code has already been published on the Ethereum website.
Shanghai Hard Fork could launch in March
Developers at the Ethereum Foundation are looking at a tentative date of March this year for the highly anticipated Shanghai hard fork. Also, the upcoming Zhejiang testnet could likely feature all of the Ethereum Enhancement Protocols (EIPs) included in the Shanghai update. One of these EIPs is the timestamp-based fork.
The Zhejiang public testnet will allow validators to play with withdrawal features on a simulated version of Ethereum. This version closely mimics a post-Shanghai chain and gives core Ethereum developers a chance to iron out any potential issues.
The developers anticipate that Zheijiang will receive more public attention than usual amid the routine deployment of various Ethereum testnets. Additional attention is due to Zheijiang’s inherent withdrawal capacity, which is of particular interest to intermediary companies. These companies include Binance, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Kraken, and Lido Finance, which stake ETH for their users in massive pools. It is worth noting that an amount of 32 ETH, or just over $50K, is the basic requirement to participate in the network.
JPMorgan analysts previously opined that ETH staking withdrawals could see Coinbase rake in more than $500 million in annual revenue.
Post-Shanghai Update
The next update to follow Shanghai is EIP-4844, which could see its release in May or June of this year. According to experts, EIP-4844 can potentially increase the scalability of layer 2 rollups on the blockchain by factors of 100x and lower transaction fees.
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Tolu is a Lagos-based blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast. He likes to demystify the crypto stories down to the basics so that anyone anywhere can understand them without too much prior knowledge. When he’s not up to his neck in crypto-stories, Tolu likes music, loves to sing, and is an avid movie buff.
