ChainCatcher news, research company Rated stated on social media that the Ethereum infrastructure is facing challenges, recently observing that the network validity level of Ethereum validators is at 93.5%, the lowest level since the Shapella upgrade, and the percentage of missed blocks is double the average level of the past 30 days.This impact can be traced back to the Geth version that introduced block production issues, while the way Prysm handles block production logic (prioritizing local blocks over enhanced blocks) exacerbated the problem. Given that GETH and Prysm are the most popular EL and CL clients respectively, the combined effect is a 2 sigma drop in network-wide validity. However, over the approximately 3 years of the beacon chain's operation, the 2 sigma drop in validity has not had a real impact on the overall good functioning of Ethereum.In addition, Ethereum community developer terence.eth stated on social media: "Recently, the Geth block building error highlights Ethereum's unique advantage: client diversity. Despite the issues, the chain continues to run smoothly due to various client implementations and their trade-offs. Although Geth's error interfered with block production, Prysm prioritizes security; it first checks local blocks, and if it fails, it will stop block production even if a builder block is specified. We are fortunate: 1. Prysm is not a super dominant client. 2. Not everyone upgraded to Geth v1.13.0 at the same time. 3. The Geth team responded and fixed the issue quickly."

ChainCatcher message, the Ethereum sidechain Gnosis Chain tweeted that the Shapella upgrade has been successfully activated on Gnosis Chain.

ChainCatcher news, the cryptocurrency index fund management company Bitwise released its Q2 2023 report on the crypto market, showing that since the "Shapella" upgrade in April 2023, the amount of staked ETH has increased by 26.37%, and the number of validators has increased by 26.63%. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, Gnosis Chain recently announced that it will launch the mainnet Shapella upgrade around 19:34:20 Beijing time on August 1st at slot 10379264. (source link)

ChainCatcher News, Bank of America stated in a research report last week that Ethereum was the first to introduce the idea of a blockchain operating system compatible with smart contracts and decentralized applications, but despite benefiting from this first-mover advantage, the platform's throughput remains limited.Analysts Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss wrote that the Shapella upgrade did not address scalability issues, "but it was a small step forward as a precursor to future upgrades." Ethereum may not be able to increase throughput in the short term, and the growing competition from alternative blockchains will limit its adoption and use. The main concern surrounding the Shanghai upgrade is that validators can withdraw and sell their staked ETH, which accounts for 16% of the total ETH supply, but the withdrawal process is designed to "prevent a short-term mass outflow of validators and the resulting security risks." (source link)

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum client Prysm releases version V4.0.0 for the Shapella upgrade. This version is mandatory for all mainnet beacon nodes and validators and must be upgraded by April 12. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, Binance announced that it will support the Shapella upgrade of the Ethereum network. The Shapella upgrade of the Ethereum network will be activated at epoch 194048 on April 12 at 22:27:35 UTC (April 13 at 06:27:35 Beijing time). Starting around 6:20 on April 13, deposits and withdrawals of ETH and ERC-20 tokens through the Ethereum network will be suspended, and deposits and withdrawals of ETH and ERC-20 tokens will reopen after the upgrade is completed and the network is stable.Binance stated that after the Shapella upgrade, it will increase the minimum deposit unlock amount for entering the Ethereum network from the current 12 blocks to 64 blocks. Trading of ETH and ERC-20 tokens will not be affected during the network upgrade. (Source link)

ChainCatcher message, the Ethereum Foundation announced that the Shapella upgrade will be activated at epoch 194048 on April 13 at 6:27:35 Beijing time. This upgrade will allow validators to withdraw their staked shares from the beacon chain to the execution layer, and it also introduces new features for both the execution layer and the consensus layer.It is reported that the Shapella upgrade combines changes to the execution layer (Shanghai), the consensus layer (Capella), and the engine API. Additionally, from now until April 5, the Ethereum bug bounty reward for Shapella vulnerabilities will be doubled. (source link)

ChainCatcher message, the Ethereum Goerli testnet activated the Shapella upgrade on March 15 at 6:26, with a validator participation rate of only 29% at the block trigger. In a YouTube live stream, Ben Edgington, the product lead for the Ethereum client Teku, stated that the low participation rate might be due to validator nodes not upgrading to the Goerli fork in time.Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko tweeted that the Goerli testnet is processing deposits, but some validator nodes have not yet upgraded. A challenge in studying the testnet validator nodes is that, given ETH has no value, the incentive to run validator nodes / monitor them decreases. Another possible reason is that a large number of withdrawal credential changes were processed at the fork point. Since this is the first time people are submitting these changes, there is more to handle, which may lead to block/proof loss on low-resource nodes.In addition, Ethereum developers will hold a conference call on March 16 from 22:00 to 23:30 to determine the mainnet Shanghai upgrade date. (source link)

ChainCatcher message, the Ethereum Foundation announced the exact time for the Goerli testnet upgrade. The Shapella network upgrade will be activated on the Goerli network at block height 162304, scheduled for March 15, 06:25:36 Beijing time. This is expected to be the last testnet upgrade before the Shapella upgrade is arranged for the Ethereum mainnet. Additionally, the Shapella community call is scheduled for March 13, 23:00 Beijing time.It is reported that the Ethereum Sepolia testnet has successfully simulated the "Shanghai upgrade." After the Goerli testnet upgrade, the mainnet upgrade will take place in the following 3 to 4 weeks. (source link)

ChainCatcher news reports that according to the latest official announcement, the core developers of the Ethereum blockchain plan to conduct the Shanghai+Capella upgrade on the Sepolia test network on February 28 at epoch 56832. Shanghai+Capella, also known as Shapella, aims to enable ETH withdrawals from network validators, a feature that was not enabled during the network's transition to PoS consensus ("the Merge").This upgrade combines changes to both the execution layer (Shanghai) and the consensus layer (Capella). In order to complete the final upgrade in March, developers plan to conduct multiple phases of public testing. The upcoming release on Sepolia is the second public testnet for the deployment upgrade.Earlier this month, Shapella was tested on the Zhejiang testnet. After deploying Shapella to the Sepolia testnet, developers expect to transition to the Goerli testnet for the final phase of testing before the mainnet release in early March.Previously, ChainCatcher reported that the Ethereum Foundation stated in a recently published article that the Shanghai+Capella (Shapella) mainnet upgrade is entering its final pre-release sequence—public testnet. Shapella includes many features, but the most important for stakers and the consensus layer is the support for withdrawals. Exiting validators can withdraw their full balance, while active validators with a balance exceeding 32 ETH can make partial withdrawals. Additionally, the first long-standing public testnet, Sepolia, is scheduled for an upgrade on February 28. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, the Ethereum Foundation stated in a recently published article that the Shanghai+Capella (Shapella) mainnet upgrade is entering the final pre-release phase ------ the public testnet.Shapella includes many features, but the most important for stakers and the consensus layer is the support for withdrawals. Exiting validators can withdraw their full balance, while active validators with a balance exceeding 32 ETH can make partial withdrawals. Additionally, the first long-standing public testnet Sepolia is scheduled for an upgrade on February 28.On February 7, the Shanghai upgrade was successfully activated on the first public testnet Zhejiang after reaching the scheduled height. Previously, developers indicated that after the upgrade on the Sepolia testnet, they plan to release the Shanghai upgrade on the Ethereum Goerli testnet at the end of February or early March, and after a successful transition, they will move to the mainnet. (source link)