Ethereum Plans ‘Shapella’ Transition on Zhejiang Testnet — Dev Insists ‘Withdrawals are Coming’

Ethereum core developers plan to activate the “Shapella” transition through the Zhejiang public testnet on Feb. 7, 2023, according to Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation. If successful, Beiko said the Sepolia testnet could follow two days later, followed by the Goerli testnet. He noted that the testnet has a faucet, block explorer, and staking launchpad support and urged validators to obtain 33 ether from the faucet and “be ready for Shapella Tuesday.”

Ethereum Devs Prepare for ‘Shapella’ Upgrade; Sepolia, Goerli Testnets to Follow If All Goes Well

On Feb. 2, 2023, Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation said that developers are preparing to launch the “Shapella” transition on Tuesday using the Zhejiang test network. “Shapella” combines the words “Shanghai” and “Capella,” representing two planned enhancements that will allow for Ethereum withdrawals on the execution layer and upgrade the Beacon chain consensus layer simultaneously.

Beiko further encouraged validators to get 33 test ethers from the Zhejiang faucet to participate. “The network has a faucet, block explorer, and staking launchpad support: if you want to run a validator through the Shapella transition, this is a great opportunity to try it,” Beiko tweeted. “You can get 33 [ethereum] via the faucet, start your validator, and be ready for Shapella Tuesday.” The Ethereum Foundation member and developer added:

Assuming the Zhejiang fork goes well, they would be ready to move to public testnets, and in what order. We quickly agreed that Sepolia should be first, as the validator set is smaller than Goerli.

Beiko emphasized that developers are monitoring for bugs before the Shapella transition on the Zhejiang public testnet. The testing is designed to identify any problems before the official Shapella upgrade is applied to the mainnet in March. At the time of writing, the Beacon chain contract has 16.4 million ETH, worth $26 billion using ETH exchange rates on Feb. 5, 2023, locked.

“Shanghai” and “Capella” will allow for execution and consensus layers to enable validators to withdraw this locked value. Recently, the liquid staking service Lido announced plans for a withdrawal feature prior to the forthcoming mainnet upgrade in March. Beiko said “Withdrawals are coming” and, if the other testnets transition successfully, “we’ll move to mainnet.” He also noted that there will be another All Core Devs (ACD) meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.

What do you think about the upcoming Ethereum “Shapella” upgrade and the plans for withdrawals? Will you be participating in the testnets or waiting for the mainnet activation? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.