Ethereum Developers Prioritize Upgrade to Withdraw Staked ETH Tokens
• Ethereum developers have decided to move forward with the Shanghai upgrade that will enable the withdrawal of staked Ether (ETH).
• The upgrade was already tentatively scheduled for March 2023 and intended to bring a slew of improvements.
• With the latest resolution, only the feature to enable the withdrawal of staked funds is receiving priority, making staking more attractive for individuals and even institutions.
Ethereum developers have come to a resolution to prioritize the Shanghai upgrade that will enable the withdrawal of staked Ether (ETH). This upgrade, which was tentatively scheduled for March 2023, is expected to bring a slew of improvements to the network. In the first virtual meeting of the year, the developers decided to prioritize only the feature to enable the withdrawal of staked funds, making staking more attractive for individuals and even institutions.
The Ethereum network has recently moved to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which replaced the power-hungry proof-of-work mining rigs. This has allowed the network to secure itself with staked tokens, but at the same time, has made these tokens inaccessible to their owners. According to data from Beaconcha.in, about 15 million ETH tokens are currently staked by more than 495k active validators. These tokens are worth more than $20 billion, and with the Shanghai upgrade, the amount of staked ETH is likely to increase.
The developers hope that the upgrade will make the staking process more attractive, as it will allow ETH owners to access their tokens when needed. This could potentially cause some turbulence in the ETH market, but is long-term bullish, as more people and institutions will be encouraged to lock up their ETH to secure the network. The other features that were intended for the Shanghai upgrade will be moved to other upgrades.
The Ethereum network is constantly evolving and the developers are working hard to ensure that the network remains secure and efficient. With the Shanghai upgrade, the Ethereum network is hoping to make staking more attractive, thus encouraging more people and institutions to lock up their ETH tokens to secure the network.
