Ethereum revealed its newest developer network called “devnet 2” on January 11 in anticipation of their approaching Shanghai upgrade.
The developer network lets clients adjust ETH withdrawal processes according to their needs. According to a developer, the launch of devnet 2 went without many hitches.
The network will be able to examine and check for flaws in the Shanghai upgrade’s software, allowing clients to withdraw bitcoin, even those staked using validators.
While this functionality is not available in Ethereum’s current form, it will come out in March. Long-time clients will finally be able to access staked coins that were blocked off during Ethereum’s September transition.
Withdrawals prioritized in new update
Recent problems persisted even before the transition in September.
Network users had the chance to stake coins on ETH in preparation for the Shanghai upgrade. The total ETH in the staking contract is worth around $22.7 billion. However, after the transition, clients were unable to retrieve the funds pledged to ETH.
The solution lies in ETH’s upcoming Shanghai upgrade if everything is in order. Withdrawal functions have become the developer’s highest priority implementation, knowing the investment in it.
Due to their new priorities, some features slated for the Shanghai upgrade were delayed. In one instance, the Shanghai upgrade would have introduced proto-danksharding or a data-sampling process that would cheapen and quicken layer-2 transactions on Ethereum.
However, developers removed proto-danksharding to make way for ETH withdrawal functions. The removed feature will come out later in the year instead.
After having delayed new features, ETH expects to be able to roll out Shanghai’s update on time in March.
“Things are looking great,” ETH core developer Marius Van Der Wijden said. “I’m not aware of any issues that could delay Shanghai at this moment.”
Developers also released ETH withdrawal’s shadow fork, a rehearsal for the coming update alongside the developer network. While only a few clients tested it, the shadow fork will launch on the main net in the next few weeks.