Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, scheduled for mid-March, will raise the blockchain’s staking ratio in the medium term, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Wednesday.

There is plenty of room for the 14% ratio to rise, the bank said, given that the average for other proof-of-stake (PoS) networks is about four times as high.

A large portion of the future increase in staking will likely move to liquid staking protocols such as Lido, the bank said. These protocols “enable liquidity for staked assets, which would otherwise be locked in the staking contracts, by providing an equal amount of derivative token in exchange for staked ether which can be traded.”

JPMorgan notes that liquid staking protocol derivative tokens have normally traded at prices below their underlying asset, but as the Shanghai upgrade nears they are converging to parity with ether (ETH).

(By Will Canny)