Ethereum’s Shanghai-Capella Update Slated For Sepolia Testrun On February 28

Summary:

• Ethereum developers plan to trial the Shanghai-Capella upgrade on the Sepolia testnet.
• Developers scheduled the update to test staked ETH withdrawals by upgrading the execution layer with Shanghai and the consensus layer with Capella.
• Shapella as it’s called was already tested on the Zhejiang testnet and developers discovered minor bugs to thrash out.
• The Sepolia testrun was scheduled ahead of the full Shanghai upgrade expected in March this year.

Ethereum developers announced a test run of the Shanghai-Capella upgrade on the second public test net so far – Sepolia. Scheduled for February 28, the trial seeks to test staked Ether (ETH) withdrawals on Ethereum’s proof-of-stake blockchain. 

The simulation on Sepolia will involve two upgrades to bring ETH’s chain closer to withdrawal functionality for staked Ether – Shanghai and Capella. 

While Shanghai focuses on upgrading the execution layer, Capella is designed to upgrade the consensus layer. The two layers work together to give a blockchain full functionality. Updating both aspects of Ethereum’s blockchain will allow validators to unlock staked ETH and withdraw their asset, developers have explained. 

The upgrade known as Shapella, a witty mix of Shanghai and Capella, will roll out on the Sepolia testnet at epoch 56832, per a Tuesday update from developers. Previously, Shapella was tested on the Zhejiang public testnet. Zhejiang was the first testnet to simulate Shapella and developers found bugs to work on during the test. 

Before ETH’s engineers ship out Shanghai in March, another trial phase is expected on a third public testnet – Goerli. The Goerli testrun will mark the 11th hour before developers finally roll out Shanghai and implement EIP-4895 on Ethereum’s PoS network.

Ethereum Validators Await The Unlocking of 16 Million Staked ETH

Over half a million Ethereum validators await the unlocking of their staked ETH. Currently, over 16 million  Ether sits locked on the smart contract which opened in 2020. While it’s expected that a withdrawal limit will be placed on staked ETH, it remains unclear whether unlocking these validator deposits will affect Ethereum’s price dynamic. 

A Finder report on Ethereum’s short, mid, and long-term future opined that staked ETH withdrawals could attract greater institutional interest and proper ETH’s market price to greater heights. 

Industry experts surveyed in the same report also noted that the added selling pressure could keep ETH’s price from skyrocketing in the short to mid-term.