Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, also known as Shapella, occurred on April 12th and introduced a significant mechanic change following Ethereum’s transition to Proof-of-Stake. The upgrade included several Ethereum Improvement Proposals, with particular emphasis on EIP-4895, allowing validators to unlock their ETH, securing the Beacon chain. This was a landmark development aimed at achieving security, decentralization, and scalability for Ethereum.
What is the Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade?
The upgrade took place on both the execution layer (Shanghai) and consensus layer (Capella) of Ethereum’s network. EIP-4895, which enables validators to withdraw their stake, is a critical improvement. The Beacon depositor contract held approximately 18 million ETH, representing around 15% of the total circulating supply.
How do ETH Withdrawals Work?
Validators can now withdraw their stake and any rewards they may have accrued as either partial or full withdrawals. Partial withdrawals allow access to excess balances needed to operate the validator node. A total of 1,800 validators can fully unstake within a single block.
Other Ethereum Improvement Proposals in the Shanghai Upgrade
EIP-3651, EIP-3855, EIP-3860, and EIP-6049 aim to reduce gas fees during periods of significant network activity and congestion. EIP-3651 lowers gas costs associated with maximal Extractable Value payments, while EIP-3855 introduces a new instruction and reduces gas costs for developers. EIP-3860 and EIP-6049 both reduce fees in various instances.
Conclusion
The Shanghai upgrade plays a crucial role in Ethereum’s ongoing development and provides more freedom to validators while ensuring network security, decentralization, and scalability.
