The developers will now conduct the Shanghai upgrade on the Goerli testnet in the coming weeks. This will be the final dress rehearsal before implementing the upgrade on the Ethereum mainnet.
As the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade comes closers, Ethereum developers are seeing successful results by conducting a rehearsal on the Ethereum test network Sepolia. As per the details, Sepolia successfully replicated the withdrawals for staked Ether (ETH) today.
Sepolia as Rehearsal of Ethereum Shanghai Hardfork
The upgrade was triggered earlier today at epoch 56832 at 4:04 UTC and finalized at 4:17 UTC (11:17 p.m. ET). Also, the Shapella upgrade which represents the combination of Shanghai and Capella hardforks has been successfully implemented on the testnet.
Shanghai is the hard fork’s name on the execution layer client side. Similarly, Capella is the upgrade name taking place on the consensus layer client side. One of the major changes with the upgrade is that it allows validators to withdraw their staked ETH (stETH) from the Beacon Chain to the execution layer. This is the first time that Ethereum will be unlocking user withdrawals since it started staking back in 2020.
Each validator has staked a minimum of 32 ETH as per the threshold set by Ethereum. Thus, they can now withdraw 32 or more ETH. Users can choose to either withdraw the staking yield and continue validation with 32 ETH, or fully withdraw taking away 32 ETH plus rewards and cease validating.
Next Testing on Goerli Testnet
Before the Shanghai upgrade goes live on the Ethereum mainnet, developers need to taste the similar success of the implementation on the Goerli testnet. The test on Sepolia has been designed to provide developers with another dress rehearsal of withdrawals. This gives them the idea of the exact thing that they need to replicate on the Ethereum mainnet.
Testnets copy the main blockchain which is Ethereum in this case. It allows developers to test any changes to their applications in a low-stakes environment. Sepolia is the second of the three testnets for running such a simulation. The recent upgrade took place on a closed testnet, unlike the previous one that happened earlier this month in Zhejiang. In terms of the number of validators participating in it, Sepolia is the smallest of the three testnets.
In the coming weeks, the final test upgrade will happen on the Goerli testnet which will be much more important. This would be the final dress rehearsal before implementing the Shanghai upgrade on the Ethereum mainnet.
Ethereum (ETH) is currently hovering around the $1,630 level with its market cap just under $200 billion. Some market analysts are skeptical that the unlocking of staked Ether (ETH) can put further pressure on the ETH price.
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