Shapella Upgrade Finally Completed As Ethereum Advances To Next Stage

The Shanghai hard fork of Ethereum (ETH), also known as Shapella, has been completed, allowing users who have staked their ETH to secure and validate transactions on the blockchain to withdraw. The update began at 22:27 UTC and ended around 22:42 UTC. According to beaconcha.in, approximately 30 minutes after the upgrade was activated, 285 withdrawals in epoch 194,408 were processed, totaling approximately 5,413 ETH.

Additionally, while the main focus of Shanghai is staked ETH withdrawals, there are four less strenuous aspects called Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) which will supposedly improve gas fees for developers. These are EIP-3651, EIP-3855, EIP-3860, and EIP-6049.

What happened?

Members of the Ethereum community have described the much-anticipated hard fork as a historic milestone, as it signifies the completion of the multi-year transition to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network.

Users stake cryptocurrency in a PoS system as a kind of guarantee to help confirm and secure new data blocks. The blockchain abandoned its original Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, the same one used by Bitcoin (BTC), last year, but users have been unable to withdraw staked ETH or redeem accrued rewards, a critical component of the new paradigm.

Furthermore, validators can unstake in a variety of ways, with the two most common being partial and full withdrawals. Staking services also have their own schedules for releasing staked ETH withdrawals.

Coinbase previously stated that they would begin processing withdrawal requests for their stakeholders approximately 24 hours after Shanghai is completed. Meanwhile, it was reported that stakeholders will not be able to retrieve their withdrawals until the protocol is upgraded again in May, according to Lido.

What comes next?

Ethereum Co-Founder, Vitalik Buterin, stated that we have now arrived at a stage where the quickest and most difficult parts concerning the transition of the Ethereum protocol are essentially over. He went on to say that although there are still important steps which must be completed, they can be finished safely at a slower pace.

He also stated that after Shanghai, the blockchain will address scaling (the act of making transactions faster and cheaper). If Ethereum developers do not address scaling issues before the next bull run, Vitalik believes that users will be forced to pay $500 transactions. If Ethereum does not have Verkle Trees before the next bull run, the situation may also become problematic, even if it is a much smaller issue than hefty transaction fees. Regardless, the upgrade is certainly a game-changer and has already led to a significant increase in ETH&rsquos price.