Today’s successful replication of staked ether (ETH) withdrawals on a second Ethereum test network (testnet), known as Sepolia, brought the Ethereum blockchain one step closer to its much awaited Shanghai Upgrade.
In epoch 56832, at 4:04 UTC, the update was initiated. It was completed at 4:17 UTC (11:17 p.m. ET). With the Shanghai Upgrade, Ethereum will have completely converted to a proof-of-stake network that enables validators to cash out incentives for adding or approving blocks to the blockchain.
Before Shanghai goes live, there will be one more test on Ethereum’s Goerli testnet.
The test on Sepolia was created to provide developers a second opportunity to practice withdrawals that would take place on the main Ethereum network. Testnets enable developers to test any modifications to their apps in a low-stakes setting by replicating a main blockchain, in this example Ethereum.
The second of three testnets to go through this scenario is Sepolia. This testnet update, however, was on a closed testnet, meaning that only the Ethereum core developers operate the validators on this testnet, unlike the last testnet upgrade that took place earlier this month on Zhejiang. Sepolia is the least significant of the three testnets since it has the fewest validators participating in it out of all three.
In the next weeks, Goerli will get the final testnet update. It would be the last practice run before staked ETH withdrawals could be processed on the main network. Given that Goerli has the largest testnet of the three and most closely resembles the activity on the main Ethereum blockchain, its testing will also be the most eagerly awaited.
The next testnet upgrade on Goerli is probably going to happen around March 21, which might delay the mainnet Shanghai Upgrade into April if developers keep doing test upgrades three weeks apart. If so, there would be a little delay compared to the original goal date of March that Ethereum developers had indicated for the delivery of staked ETH.
