The Ethereum (ETH) community is eagerly awaiting the Shapella upgrade on April 12, which is set to take place in just two days, with the update one of the most significant developments to the Ethereum ecosystem since the Merge, which took place in September of last year.
Notably, the Shapella upgrade promises to bring a plethora of benefits to the Ethereum network, including the ability to withdraw assets from The Beacon Chain. This will allow for the unlocking of a staggering $30 billion worth of staked ETH from the network, a substantial amount of liquidity.
Another key feature of the Shapella Upgrade is the expected lowering of gas fees for developers. This change is likely to attract more developers to the platform, as it will make it more cost-effective for them to create and deploy smart contracts and decentralized applications.
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The upgrade is also expected to boost the popularity of the already booming liquid staking industry. Currently, liquid staking accounts for nearly half of all staked ETH, and this number is expected to rise significantly after the upgrade. This will aim to provide a more seamless and efficient way for users to earn staking rewards while still retaining the ability to use their ETH for other purposes.
A significant milestone for Ethereum
Chen Zhuling, the Founder and CEO of RockX, a global blockchain node network providing non-custodial staking and API access nodes to stake and build on all major Proof-of-Stake blockchains, shared his thoughts on the upgrade with Finbold on April 10:
“The Shapella Upgrade is a significant milestone for Ethereum, propelling the blockchain closer towards achieving its goal of becoming a more scalable and efficient platform. From a technical perspective, it is less challenging since the foundation was laid during the Merge last year. The Beacon Chain and Ethereum have been working smoothly as one since last year, and the Shapella Upgrade is set to enable new features based on the new architecture.”
He also noted the Shapella upgrade represents ‘a game-changing development’ that positions Ethereum for sustained growth and success, adding:
“While some short-term market volatility is to be expected, the long-term benefits to the ecosystem are substantial, as Ethereum’s capacity to handle more transactions per second increases, transaction costs decrease, and the security and efficiency of smart contracts improve. With the Shapella Upgrade, the liquid staking landscape will be transformed forever, and Ethereum will become the benchmark yield for crypto.”
Overall, the Shapella upgrade is shaping up to be another turning point for the Ethereum ecosystem, with a range of significant benefits that are sure to attract more users and investors to the network.
