Public testnet launched before Shanghai upgrade activation. There was an increased interest from validators in the Ethereum ecosystem.

The launch of Ethereum‘s Zhejiang testnet on 1 February marked an important milestone in the journey towards the Shanghai upgrade.Zhejiang is different from previous Ethereum testnets as it is open to the public, allowing anyone to access test ETH and launch their own validators on the network.

The activation of the Shanghai upgrade on Zhejiang is the final major testing stage before the main network activation. The Shanghai upgrade is set to launch on the 7 February, but only if Ethereum manages to resolve the issues that arose. One of the Ethereum developers reported that the network has been experiencing problems with depositing staked ETH.

Despite these challenges, the upgrade remains on track and the focus will be on enabling withdrawals. However, other improvements are also taking place on the network. For instance, the EIP 4844 upgrade will introduce proto-dank sharding. This will be enabled by using data types known as “blobs.”

The EIP 4844 will improve rollup compatibility for Ethereum and also help lower overall fees. The anticipation for the Shanghai hardfork has led to an increased interest from validators on the Ethereum network.

The number of validators has grown by 3.07% over the past month, and the revenue generated by these Ethereum validators has increased by 76% over the last 30 days.However, the Shanghai upgrades may result in a large number of users making withdrawals from their staked Ethereum, which could have a short-term impact on the price.

Despite this, the overall sentiment among Ethereum holders remains positive. Data from glassnode showed that the percentage of Ethereum holders in profit increased materially and reached a 5-month high, at press time.

Well, the long-term impact of the Shanghai upgrades on ETH holders remains to be seen. While the journey towards improvement continues, the question of whether or not the Shanghai upgrade will test the resolve of ETH holders remains unanswered.

However, the price of Ethereum continues to gain from the positive attention directed toward the hardfork.