Tim Beiko, who oversees Protocol Support at Ethereum Foundation, has confirmed the date for the Shapella upgrade.
Shapella is the name of Ethereum’s next network upgrade. It is a portmanteau, a made-up word coined from a combination of the names “Shanghai” and “Capella,” which refer to the names of the hard forks on the execution layer client side and the consensus layer client side, respectively. According to Ethereum Foundation, Shanghai was the location of Devcon 2, and Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga.
On Tuesday (March 28), Beiko shared the news via Twitter, stating:
- The Shapella upgrade is set to occur on the mainnet during epoch 194048, which is scheduled for 22:27:35 UTC on April 12, 2023.
- For those focused on security and potential vulnerabilities, it’s important to note that Ethereum Bug Bounty rewards for Shapella-related vulnerabilities have been doubled until April 5, 2023.
According to a blog post by Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol Support Team, client teams have agreed to activate the Shapella upgrade on the mainnet, following a smooth transition on the Goerli testnet. The upgrade, which was discussed during the 157th AllCoreDevs Execution Layer meeting, is set to take place on April 12th. The Shapella upgrade will enable validators to withdraw their stake from the Beacon Chain back to the execution layer and bring new functionality to both the execution and consensus layers.
In a series of tweets on March 17, Chris Burniske, Partner at venture capital firm Placeholder, shared his thoughts on Shapella upgrade. Burniske anticipates that the upgrade will de-risk Ethereum staking and pave the way for increased staking percentages. Burniske stated that Ethereum staking percentages could see a 2-4x increase in the quarters following the Shapella upgrade. He believes this will result in bullish flows rather than bearish and advises market participants to expect volatility but not be misled by short-term price fluctuations.
The Placeholder partner also refuted that the Shapella upgrade could lead to a significant dump of ETH in the market. He argued that critics who hold this view have yet to thoroughly consider the upgrade’s implications on market dynamics.
Burniske says that currently 15% of ETH is staked, compared to 50-70% for its cryptocurrency peers. According to Burniske, the lower percentage of staked ETH is due to the previously undefined lock-up period, which has presented too much risk for many investors. However, the Shapella upgrade will introduce a more defined lock-up period, which Burniske believes will encourage more people to stake their ETH.
In addition, he expects the Ether-Bitcoin (ETHBTC) ratio to exhibit temporary weakness before breaking out to the upside following the Shapella upgrade. Burniske also commented on the broader crypto market, noting that Bitcoin (BTC) rallying while traditional banks falter is pivotal for the industry. He suggested that when Bitcoin’s momentum slows, it could align with Ethereum’s push for increased staking post-Shapella.
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