Ethereum Shapella Upgrade and Impact on ETH Price

• Shapella upgrade enables validators to withdraw $18 M stETH.
• Ethereum (ETH) price may skyrocket to $5,000 by the end of 2023.

Ethereum’s Shapella (Shanghai- Capella) upgrade is scheduled for the 12th of April, which is in two days during the 194048 epoch. There are a lot of rattles over this topic in the crypto market, and it is both positive and negative. This article is a summarization of all those. Diving in first, we must know what this upgrade basically is.

What is Shanghai Capella Upgrade?

Shanghai Capella, abbreviated as Shapella, is a significant upgrade after “The Merge”, the shift of the Ethereum blockchain from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism. 

This particular upgrade will enable the validators to withdraw the stETH tokens on the Beacon chain. The number of ETH tokens staked on the Beacon chain values to $18 million since 2020. Along with this, crucial changes in the execution and consensus layers are also added on with Engine API enhancement.

How to Withdraw stETH Tokens?

Validators can do the withdrawal process in two ways, Partial and Full Withdrawal. Partial withdrawal will enable the users to withdraw the excess/ rewards they have gained over the period of time. And the minimum limit of 32 stETH (Staked Ethereum) will be retained in the platform itself.

Parallelly, in the Full Withdrawal state, the validator is given the choice to withdraw all the ETH in his/her holding account. So, it’s all in the hands of the users. Also, the team reveals the fact that many validators’ wallets are still in a non-withdrawal state. Precautionary measures are also in place to handle the withdrawal process.

Who Are the Key Players?

Personas who have a keen interest in the Shapella upgrade are node operators and stakers. Apart from them, application or tooling developers are also observing the proposed EIPs. The team has announced five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP) over the Shanghai execution layer. 

Operators who fail to participate in the upgrade will be struck in the pre-fork blockchain. They will lose the ability to function with the latest compatible post-Shapella blockchain. As always, investors and traders are also focusing on the Shapella upgrade.

What Does It Mean for ETH?

This is a critical part, as the community gets divided in this concern. Some expect the Ethereum (ETH) price to skyrocket and reach $5,000 by the end of 2023. Whereas, others expect the token to undergo massive selling pressure. And both cases have significant supporting incidents.

Post-Shapella upgrade, with the ease of withdrawal, there is a fear of $18 million ETH being completely withdrawn and liquidated. But the patterns in the price surge indicate a maximum of 80% increase in price by June 2023.

A survey result from OKX Exchange indicates ETH will reach $3K by Q2 of 2023. Similarly, the respondents are confident over staking to have a visible increase in the upcoming months post the Shapella upgrade. 

ETH Market Sentiment 

A prolonged accusation against the Ethereum blockchain is its encapsulation of Level 2 networks to resolve its limits. Many crypto critics emphasize the fact that although the crypto market has other networks without scalability or gas fee issues, innovators are drawn to solve the same issue in the Ethereum blockchain.

The current trading price of ETH is $1,855.75 with a $ 223,597,590,278 market capitalization. The second-largest cryptocurrency has surged 0.8% in the last 24 hours, as per CMC.

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