Blockchain Upgrades Coming Soon | NFT CULTURE | Web3 Culture NFTs and Crypto Art

According to a recent report from CoinDesk’s Valid Points newsletter, Ethereum’s upcoming Shanghai upgrade, also known as “Shapella”, is expected to enable the release of staked ETH withdrawals for validators who stake 32 ETH to approve and add blocks to the blockchain. The official date for the upgrade has not been set, but the developers are aiming for March, which could potentially be delayed to April. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling system, Optimism, will undergo a major upgrade in March called Bedrock, which aims to reduce transaction fees, increase transaction speed, and improve compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Polygon, another scaling project for Ethereum, will also launch its own Zero-Knowledge Rollup (ZK Rollup) in March. The ZK rollup race is now heating up with various projects running to release their own solutions. This report was originally published in CoinDesk’s Valid Points newsletter.

Ethereum’s upcoming Shanghai upgrade, also known as “Shapella”, is expected to enable the release of staked ETH withdrawals for validators who stake 32 ETH to approve and add blocks to the blockchain. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling system, Optimism, will undergo a major upgrade in March called Bedrock, which aims to reduce transaction fees, increase transaction speed, and improve compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In addition, Polygon, another scaling project for Ethereum, will also launch its own Zero-Knowledge Rollup (ZK Rollup) in March. With various projects racing to release their own ZK rollup solutions, the scaling race on Ethereum is heating up.

• Shanghai Upgrade Approaching: The Shanghai upgrade, more accurately known as “Shapella”, will enable the release of staked ether (ETH) withdrawals. Since Ethereum moved to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, validators who stake 32 ETH approve and add blocks to the blockchain. Before validators joined the PoS blockchain, they agreed that their staked ETH and any accrued rewards would remain locked to Shanghai. Ethereum developers haven’t put in an official date, but they’re targeting March for the big upgrade.
• Optimism for upgrading to bedrock: Optimism, an Ethereum layer 2 scaling system, will undergo a major upgrade in March that aims to reduce transaction fees, speed up transactions, and improve smoother compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The Layer 2 protocol aims to lower the cost of Ethereum transactions while maintaining the security of the Ethereum blockchain. The upgrade, known as “Bedrock”, will be a major upgrade of the network. Some have said the upgrade will help Optimism compete with its main competitor Arbitrum.
• Polygon launches its own ZK Rollup: Polygon, another scaling project for Ethereum, is coming out with its own rollup system in March. Polygon has been working on its own Zero-Knowledge Rollup (ZK Rollup) for some time, and in February announced the March 27 launch date for its beta zkEVM. ZK rollups use complex cryptography that creates “proof” that shows a transaction is valid with only minimal information about that transaction. zkEVM deploys the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for its ZK rollup, allowing developers to migrate their Ethereum smart contracts seamlessly. Other projects, such as Matter Labs and Scroll, are also working on their own ZK rollup solutions, while the race to release full-fledged ZK rollups heats up.