Ethereum Foundation makes new Goerli Shapella announcement

An important Ethereum upgrade is set to take place next week that will allow stakers to finally withdraw funds staked during the merge.

According to a tweet from Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko, the upgrade is scheduled to occur on March 14, preceded by a community call the day before, as announced on the Ethereum Foundation Blog. To monitor the Goerli upgrade, EthStaker will be hosting a live call on YouTube.

“After a smooth Sepolia transition, the Shapella upgrade is now scheduled for the Goerli testnet. This is expected to be the last testnet upgrade before scheduling Shapella for the Ethereum mainnet,” according to the blog. “This upgrade follows The Merge and enables validators to withdraw their stake from the Beacon Chain back to the execution layer. It also introduces new functionality to both the execution and consensus layer …”

On March 14, at 10 p.m. UTC, Ethereum developers plan to implement the Shapella hard fork on the Goerli testnet, which will delay mainnet withdrawals by three to four weeks. This launch will mark the first deployment on a public testnet that will allow full and partial staked ETH withdrawals to be tested.

Ethereum staking – what is it?

Starting from December 2020, users have been able to stake 32 ETH in a contract on Ethereum’s Beacon Chain consensus layer to become validators who secure Ethereum. As a reward, they receive incentives that can be withdrawn once Shapella is deployed on the Ethereum mainnet.

Post Ethereum’s Merge, each validator and standard node operator will operate consensus and execution client software that communicates through an Engine API. Various teams are responsible for writing and maintaining client software in diverse programming languages to enhance Ethereum’s security.

Ethereum staking update

Ethereum developers need to release the Goerli client software by early next week, and node operators require one to two weeks to upgrade their clients. The Sepolia testnet, which deployed the Shapella fork on February 28, 2023, is a permissioned testnet that only permits approved entities to operate validator nodes. The Goerli testnet was the first to support multiple Ethereum clients, enabling developers and node operators to test smart contracts using the testnet cryptocurrency called GoETH.

Now, according to the latest updates, users will be able to register as validators, validate transactions, and fully withdraw their funds to remove themselves from securing the network. As Sepolia is a permissioned testnet, short-term testnets are being created to allow validators to test their node setups before Shapella is deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. These testnets permit users to register as validators, validate transactions, and withdraw their funds entirely to relinquish their responsibility in securing the network.

When Sepolia launched, it addressed the supply issue by using an mintable ERC20 token for its beacon chain, rather than SepETH, which allows validators to effectively mint SepETH, post-Shapella. So, that should solve the supply issue!

— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 23, 2023

In order to be compatible with the Goerli upgrade, it is necessary to update your node to the version of your Ethereum client.

Full details of the Shapella network upgrade can be found here.