Ethereum is gearing up for a major overhaul with the upcoming Shanghai upgrade and the Sepolia hard fork. The developers have asked node operators, validators, and stakers to update their Ethereum clients ahead of the Sepolia Shapella upgrade, which is scheduled for February 28 at 4 AM UTC.
The upcoming Sepolia testnet is critical for ETH holders and is expected to influence the altcoin price. The Shanghai upgrade is a key developmental upgrade for ETH, which is slated for March 2023, and marks one of the biggest developments for the Ethereum network, enabling stakers and validators to withdraw assets from the Beacon Chain.
The consensus layer Ethereum clients, including Lighthouse, Lodestar, Nimbus, Prysm, and Teku, have already announced Sepolia releases. The execution layer Ethereum clients, including Besu, Erigon, go-ethereum (get), and Nethermind, have also announced their Sepolia releases. With these updates, validators can withdraw their stake from the Beacon Chain back to the execution layer.
The Sepolia Shapella upgrade has led Ethereum’s price to move higher, with the ETH price currently trading at $1,638, up over 2% in the last 24 hours. However, the ETH price is likely to be volatile amid the upgrade as validators withdraw their staked Ethereum.
The Shanghai upgrade includes four small Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) related to gas fees, which can be expensive for users during high activity. These proposals are aimed at reducing gas fees for developers building on the blockchain.
EIP-3651 proposes to access the “COINBASE” address at a low gas cost, EIP-3855 creates a code dubbed “Push0” that lowers gas cost for developers, EIP-3850 introduces an upper cap on the gas cost for developers, and EIP-6049 reduces gas fees for developers.
In addition to these changes, the Shanghai upgrade marks a significant milestone in developing the largest altcoin in the crypto ecosystem. With the Beacon Chain staking contract already live and about a seventh of Ethereum’s total supply staked, the ETH token unlock is a crucial development in the hard fork.
