Ethereum is scheduled for its much-awaited upgrade this April 12, and it marks a new beginning of the second highest-ranked cryptocurrency in the market with its merger with Shapella. 'The Merge,' as the company called it, is taking place soon, one that will launch Shapella to the main net and bring ether into new beginnings.
This merger unlocks a significant development for Ethereum investors, as the previous stake on the blockchain may soon be withdrawn, with as much as $30 billion available.
Ethereum is Upgrading to Shapella After Significant Merger
Ethereum is upgrading, and as announced by the company, this is taking place on April 12, by 22:27:35 UTC.
The Merge, as the company called it, is a strategic merger known as Shapella (a combination of the words Shanghai and Capella), which will help transform Ethereum's codes (a.k.a. the beacon chains), on its execution and consensus layers.
These are known to be Ethereum's two mainnet systems.
According to Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation, client releases that are compatible with the upgrade may be found on the company's release, announcing the merger.
Interesting Engineering claimed that investor projections saw that this will increase Ethereum's volatility and may drive down its prices.
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Ethereum Investors may Now Withdraw their Stakes
Alongside this upgrade, Ethereum investors may now withdraw from the soon-to-be unlocked $31 billion holdings from their previous stakes on the blockchain. Previously, ether has a policy that users may stake their coins but could not withdraw them.
This Shapella upgrade will fix this issue and allow investors and users who have stakes in the coin to "un-stake" them and retrieve their holdings.
It is unknown if this massive change would help ether to drive up its prices and overtake Bitcoin as the top crypto in the world. Moreover, there are fears that many investors may liquidate immediately, causing a drop to its market valuation.
Ethereum's Merge and its Legacy
There have been massive revamps for Ethereum in the past, and one of the most significant is the so-called "Merge" which aims to change its proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. This centers on upgrading its software and towards its goals of reducing its carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, with the blockchain world being a significant contributor.
Its technical transition aims to change a massive part of its operations from before. Initially, the company operated on significant processes which have been hurtful to the environment.
However, with this change, their goal to reduce its carbon emissions will notably drop to almost 99 percent in its operations, a drastic step for the crypto.
The technological shift is one of the key moments from Ethereum's legacy, as the crypto industry is notorious for its egregious power consumption which highly relies on coal power.
At the present, Ethereum is not only looking into its clean energy transition but also into the merger with Shapella, soon to unlock opportunities for its investors who have staked ether before.
