Locked Ether (ETH) withdrawals are getting closer and closer for Ethereum validators. The Shanghai update was run on the Goerli testnet, but not without some technical errors. We take stock of the situation together.
Shapella deployed on Goerli
This was the last step before the deployment on the main Ethereum network (ETH). At 11pm on Tuesday 14 March, the Shanghai and Capella updates – grouped under the name Shapella – were executed on the Goerli testnet. However, the updates encountered some problems during their execution.
Ethereum’s lead developer Tim Beiko reports on Twitter that withdrawals (and not deposits, as mistakenly mentioned in the tweet) were indeed processed. Nevertheless, the process was not as smooth as he had hoped. In particular, some validators did not update their client software, preventing them from synchronising with the new blockchain and thus delaying the developer team.
Deposits are being processed (https://t.co/CxYtPcGMCp), but it seems like several validators haven’t upgraded. Looking into it
One challenge with testnet validators is that given the ETH is worthless, there’s less incentive to run a validator/monitor it.
– timbeiko.eth ☀️ (@TimBeiko) March 14, 2023
This problem does not seem to worry the Ethereum developer too much. Indeed, Goerli’s validators have no real incentive to keep their software up to date, since their replicated ETH are worthless. Nevertheless, Beiko expects that the validators of the Ethereum core network will be more conscientious and that this problem will not happen again.
As such, Goerli developers have encouraged users to update their Ethereum clients to avoid any similar issues. Official rollout dates on the main network will be announced this Thursday, March 16 by the development team.
What to expect next
The Shapella event was eagerly awaited. Indeed, it will allow validators to remove (totally or partially) their ETH locked in the Beacon Chain. Approximately 17.6 million ETH, or more than $32 billion, will be released when Shapella is executed.
While this may seem massive, there are several mechanisms in place to prevent too much ETH from coming to market. Currently, there are about 522,000 validator nodes on Ethereum and the network will be able to handle about 2,200 withdrawals per day.
The calculation is relatively simple: a maximum of 10 validators can be assigned to an epoch and it takes about five or six minutes for an epoch to be processed. In the extreme case where all 2,200 validators withdraw 32 ETH, this would be 70,000 ETH, or a fraction of the 17.6 million.
On the other hand, if all validators wished to withdraw their ETH, it would take about 237 days for this to happen in full.
