Ethereum developers to open testing of Shanghai-Capella upgrade on Feb. 7

The Ethereum network is set to activate the Zhejiang public test network on Feb. 7, as the platform prepares for the Shanghai-Capella upgrade in March. Zhejiang is currently in a preview phase and will be upgraded once more in the coming days for public use.

Shanghai-Capella, also referred to as Shapella, is an upgrade aimed at enabling ether (ETH) withdrawals from network validators — a feature that is currently unavailable. Shanghai will upgrade the execution layer of Ethereum, while Capella will upgrade the consensus layer of the blockchain. To reach the final upgrade in March, developers have planned multiple phases of public testing, beginning with Zhejiang.

Ethereum DevOps and client teams are working to resolve any technical issues before the Zhejiang activation, according to Tim Beiko from the Ethereum Foundation. Once activated next week, Zhejiang will be open to the public for testing. Users will have the opportunity to run validator nodes and test unstaking of ETH with validators.

After Zhejiang, the Ethereum network team will then move on to other public testnets, including Sepolia in February and Goerli in early March. Goerli will be the final dress rehearsal before mainnet Shanghai-Capella launch by end of March, Beiko added.

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