Ethereum is heading closer to its Shanghai upgrade as the blockchain’s Sepolia testnet successfully upgraded to Shapella.
The Shanghai/Capella [also known as Shapella] network update has now been launched on Sepolia at epoch 56832, 4:04:48 AM UTC on February 28, 2023, following months of testing and an ephemeral devnet launch.
This upgrade follows the Merge and gives validators the option to return their stake from the Beacon Chain to the execution layer. Moreover, it gives the execution layer and consensus layer new features.
For those who are unfamiliar, Capella is the name of the upgrade on the consensus layer client side and Shanghai is the name of the fork on the execution layer client side.
The ability for validators to return their staked Ether [stETH] from the Beacon Chain to the execution layer is one of the significant changes.
The name “Shapella” have been derived from the combination of Shanghai, the location of Devcon 2, and Capella, the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga.
That said, the next action before the Shanghai fork goes live on the mainnet would be to release the upgrade on the Ethereum Goerli testnet, which is anticipated to start in March.
Meanwhile Ethereum developers have decided to phase out the testnet Goerli due to the unusual rise in costs.
Ethereum Goerli Testnet Will Be Shut Down- Developers
Over the weekend, [gETH], the native token powering the testnet, peaked by over $1.60 even reaching a market capitalization of as much as $15 million.
These tokens are intended to be free and distributed exclusively to testnet developers, who can use them to simulate transactions, smart contracts, and other operations before launching on the Ethereum mainnet.
A testnet’s asset being published on price-tracking websites alone is a sign that something is awry.
The issue is not new, according to Ethereum engineer Marius van der Wijden, who claimed that after over a year of debates on how to repair the GETH supply, the simplest answer was to allow Goerli “slowly die.”
“That’s the intention with all testnets, they should live for a few years,” van der Wijden said. “Afterwards it becomes increasingly hard to sync them, so it’s not of much use.”
