Ethereum’s Shapella Hard Fork Brings Historic Milestone for Community

The finalization of Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork, known as “Shapella,” has enabled users who have “staked” their ether (ETH) to withdraw their cryptocurrency, which is used to secure and validate transactions on the blockchain. The hard fork was triggered at 22:27 UTC and completed at 22:42 UTC, with about 285 withdrawals totaling approximately 5,413 ETH ($10 million worth) processed in epoch 194,408, according to online data.

This long-awaited hard fork marks a historic milestone for the Ethereum community, completing the network’s multi-year transition to a full proof-of-stake system. In a proof-of-stake system, users “stake” their cryptocurrency as a form of guarantee to help secure and confirm new data blocks. Until now, users were unable to withdraw their staked ether or redeem rewards, which was a crucial feature of the new paradigm. Ethereum’s original proof-of-work consensus mechanism, which is also used by Bitcoin, was left behind last year.

The price of ETH remained mostly stable when the Shanghai hard fork was triggered, and about 4,000 people tuned into the Shapella Mainnet Watch Party hosted by Ethereum Cat Herders. At the livestream, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, stated that “we’re in a stage where the hardest and fastest parts of the Ethereum protocol’s transition are basically over. Very significant things still need to be done, but those very significant things can be safely done at a slower pace.