TLDR;
- Ethereum developers have set April 12 as the date for the network’s Shanghai hard fork.
- The upgrade will allow staked ETH withdrawals on the Beacon chain, completing the blockchain’s transition to a PoS mechanism.
Ethereum’s Shanghai Hard Fork To Go Live In A Few Weeks
Ethereum core developers have set April 12 as the date for the highly anticipated Shanghai hard fork on the Ethereum network. The developers approved the date during the All Core Developers Execution Layer #157 call on March 16.
The mainnet hard fork will feature five Ethereum Improvement Proposals, including EIP-4985, which will enable staked Ether withdrawals on the Beacon Chain. The upgrade will complete Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus.
Developers on GitHub will now confirm the target date of April 12 at 10:27:35 pm UTC, epoch 620,9536. The mainnet upgrade was initially slated for March, but the core developers postponed it to early April.
Thanks to this upgrade, validators on the Ethereum network would receive rewards payments automatically at periodic intervals in withdrawal addresses. Furthermore, stakers would have the opportunity to exit positions entirely and have access to their full funds.
The Ethereum network began its migration to a proof of stake protocol on September 15, 2022, with the Merge. The Merge saw the Ethereum network replace miners with validators and introduced ETH staking as a crucial part of the ecosystem.
According to data obtained from Etherescan, the Ethereum PoS smart contract has attracted over 17.6 million ETH, worth nearly $29.4 billion at press time. The Ethereum network’s roadmap has numerous upgrades coming after Shanghai, slated for next month. Some of the other upcoming upgrades include the “Surge,” “Verge,” “Purge,” and “Splurge.”
Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind only Bitcoin. With a market cap of $209 billion, ETH is currently trading at $1,710 per coin.