coindesk.com
Wednesday's highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade on the Ethereum blockchain (referred to as “Shapella” by the diehards) is shaping up to be one of those Where-were-you-when moments that happen every so often in crypto. Think along the lines of last September’s “Merge” – when Ethereum flipped from a proof-of-work network to proof-of-stake – or the roughly quadrennial bitcoin halvings.
If none of this means anything to you, it’s sort of the blockchain industry’s equivalent of queuing up in the middle of a pasture with a couple of pieces of cardboard to watch a solar eclipse.
As these things go, various factions of the Ethereum and blockchain communities are planning watch parties, while crypto analysts and blockchain historians are getting bearings on the best tools for monitoring the first-ever withdrawals of staked ether (ETH). (Trust us, it’s a big deal for Ethereum, and for the crypto industry in general.)
The Shanghai upgrade is expected on Wednesday at 22:27 UTC (6:27 p.m. ET) and we’ve compiled a list of helpful resources.
Watch Parties
The Ethereum Cat Herders, a decentralized project management that helps with educational resources on the Ethereum blockchain, will be throwing a Shapella Mainnet Watch Party that will be livestreamed on Youtube, so you can watch them in real time react to the upgrade. The livestream starts at 5:45 p.m. ET, and you can watch it here.
EthStakers has a Shapella livestream, starting at 6pm ET.
Nethermind will be hosting their own livestream at 4:30 p.m. ET on how the Shanghai upgrade might impact the crypto-economic landscape.
Blockchain explorers and other tools
Beacon Chain. The open-source Ethereum explorer, beaconcha.in, is another great resource to see when Shanghai goes live. Look out for epoch 194,048, which is when Shanghai will be triggered and staked ETH withdrawals will be enabled. If you click on that epoch once its live, you should be able to see how much ETH withdrawals are available in that epoch. Additionally, if you’re looking to see how many withdrawals are being processed on the blockchain, including how much ETH is part of that, you can look at that here.
Wenmerge.com. A popular website for the Merge has been repurposed for Shanghai, where there are countdowns and dashboards that will estimate the withdrawal queue for validators looking to exit the Beacon Chain. You can look at these estimates here.
Etherscan’s Beacon Chain Smart Contract. For those curious to see how much ETH has been deposited for staking, and whether that will decrease or increase in the hours following Shanghai, you can check the smart contract on Etherscan to see whether that number changes here.
Additional Resources
What’s Next After Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade?
Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade Will Permanently Alter ETH Economics
Shanghai + Capella = 'Shapella': How Ethereum Devs Now Refer to Upcoming Upgrade
Ethereum's Shanghai Upgrade Could Bring $2.4B Selling Pressure to Ether: Observers
Ethereum's Shanghai Is Nearing, but When Can I Withdraw My Staked ETH?
Crypto Traders Are Already Placing Bets on Ethereum’s 'Shanghai Hard Fork'
What Is the Ethereum Blockchain’s Shanghai Hard Fork, and Why Does It Matter?