Ethereum developers harmonize on Shanghai update

Developers at the Ethereum Foundation, on their weekly call to discuss what features should roll out in the next hard fork, talked on Thursday, 24 November, and decided on eight proposals to explore for Shanghai, the next upgrade after moving to proof-of-stake. The Shanghai hard fork included unlocking staked Ether (ETH) and allowing stakers to withdraw their assets. 

A multiclient devnet was released on Wednesday to trial staked validator ETH withdrawals. Developers had already agreed to push forward with building staked ETH withdrawals before Thursday’s meeting, tweets from Marius Van Der Wijden, a software developer working with Ethereum, hinted on Wednesday. 

Marius Van Der Wijden said coders were already working toward staked Ether withdrawals before the call. Developers will proceed with around eight Ethereum Improvement Proposals for Shanghai, the next technological upgrade. The timeline for the upgrade is unclear at press time. 

Updates set to boost network output and slash transaction fees. 

The EVM proposals include EIP 3540, EIP 3670, EIP 4200, EIP 4570, EIP 4844, and EIP 5450. Five EIPs focus on upgrading Ethereum Virtual Machine, the staging area where smart contract codes are deployed. 

EIP 4844 centers around better scaling by leveraging proto-danksharding technology. Ideally, this tech will boost network throughput and slash transaction fees. Proto-danksharding sections a blockchain into “shards” to achieve this. 

Though the developers agreed on eight EIPs to build for the Shanghai hard fork, not all eight EIPs might ship with the final upgrade expected in the second half of 2023. The ETH coders have not finalized a timeline for staked Ether withdrawals.

Ethereum Shanghai upgrade significance 

A little over a month ago, Ethereum underwent one of the biggest transitions ever happening in any crypto in history called the Merge. The Merge was responsible for transitioning Ethereum, the largest smart contract-capable blockchain network and second largest in the world by market cap, from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade is set to introduce critical updates and elemental changes to Ethereum in the blockchain’s EVM functionalities. These changes’ significance stretches far beyond the crypto world to the real world. These changes include;

Firstly, transactions on the Ethereum blockchain could get faster and cheaper with a cheaper gas fee. 

Secondly, Withdrawal of staked ETH tokens will give a chance to incoming validators who stake their coin to deposit a smart contract that was locked in to be able to unstake them.

And lastly, updates to smart contract facilities will make Ethereum, the largest smart contract-capable blockchain network, stay ahead in development and crypto trends.