Ethereum (ETH) staked in late 2020 will be released during the March 2023 Ethereum network upgrade. Obviously, this won’t occur simultaneously because of safety issues with the networks involved.
As part of the Shanghai update, Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4895 will be implemented. As a result, for the first time since December 2020, withdrawals from the consensus layer are possible.
The technique including an exit queue has been explained by ‘Westie,’ a researcher at Blockworks. There are two phases to the withdrawal procedure for validators: the exit queue and the withdrawal period.
Westie explains that the complete number of validators, a minimum churn limit of 4, and a churn limit quotient of 216 are the factors that determine the exit queue (65,536).
When a validator enters a withdrawal phase, they have completed the exit queue as indicated by the churn limit. For unslashed validators, this has been predicted to take roughly 27 hours.
The timeframe, however, is totally contingent on the number of validators who choose a clean exit. The withdrawal period might last up to three months if one-third of them try it all at once.
Westie said:
“As far as what to expect for the withdrawal period after Shanghai, it’s tough to tell. I personally believe there’s a good chance the queue is very large (70+ days) at first as there is a recycling of validators.”
According to the researcher, this would arise from sizable organizations updating their stake status since many traditional methods have become obsolete.
He does, however, anticipate that it will eventually level out at a manageable level. While he doesn’t foresee the withdrawal period to be disproportionately huge over a sufficiently extended time frame, we’ll have a much clearer picture of how much to expect once withdrawals begin.
