Ethereum investors are counting the days until the long-awaited Shanghai update. Not for the less, because it will not be until then when stakers can withdraw their funds as validators. It was scheduled for March 2023, but technical issues may delay its arrival.

The ‘staking’ has reached Ethereum, but without the possibility of a pullback. To understand this change, you have to go back to September 2022. The famous ‘Unification’ moment. It was an episode where a new mechanism (Proof-of-Stake) was wagered on and ETH holders were allowed to stake, the cryptocurrency was replenished.

So, just by owning these tokens, Ethereum investors can earn some kind of dividend and profit. It’s a very interesting practice for investors, but that’s exactly what alarmed the United States SEC.

Staking of 32 ETH was allowed at the time, but these users were unable to withdraw these funds as they were blocked to help verify transactions. With Ethereum Shanghai, that will change thanks to the new EIP-4895 feature.

Ethereum developers are struggling with bugs. Marius VanDerWijden, one of the core developers of Ethereum, warned a few bugs while working on minor updates. These are performance related issues and possible solutions are already seen from the Ethereum Foundation.

It was announced that it would not affect the originally planned program, but after the tests, Tim Beiko, the developer of the Ethereum core, stated that the situation is still being analyzed.

More than $26,000 million. This is roughly equivalent to the amount invested in Ethereum since December 2020. With the arrival of Shanghai, these investors will be able to withdraw their funds if they no longer want to receive any more “dividends”. . About 14% of all Ethereum is staked.

Ethereum Shanghai will end its trial period. Investors who relied on Ethereum to save up during these months failed to achieve the highest returns. Additionally, they had to hold their 32 ETH. They are the guinea pigs of the new PoF mechanism.

With the new update, those who want to stake Ethereum will be able to withdraw their tokens immediately after. Additionally, Shanghai will provide more liquidity by offering more flexible staking without the need to lock all 32 slots.

Giving up other functions as long as it comes. As explained by Decrypt, several developers complained that they had to abandon other planned updates, such as the encryption method, to deploy Shanghai. There are many investments at stake, and the practice of staking is too central to the discussion for outside factors to contribute to further delays.

Betting on the sights of the regulators. Some of the SEC’s measures have been to fine the Kraken exchange $30 million for failing to register its staking program, including that of Ethereum. Coinbase, another exchange that also works with this application, has announced that they are ready to go to court to defend this tool.

In the midst of all this regulatory storm, Ethereum developers are working to ensure that Shanghai, the update that should stabilize this mechanism, arrives in a timely manner.

Image | Michael Fortsch