The year 2022 will be a memorable one for the crypto space; starting from the crypto winter that started in May to the second most well known crypto, Ethereum, completing its most anticipated Merge upgrade and Cardano executing its Vasil Hard Fork, it has been a year to remember.
With the Shanghai upgrade set to take place by the second half of 2023, the Ethereum network is busy looking at the EIPs to cater to the issues that this next upgrade is set to solve. Some of the problems that the Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade is set to solve are; gas fees, withdrawal of staked ETH tokens, and include updates for smart contracts. This upgrade is going to be a major milestone for the Ethereum Network since this will cater to the availability of the users to withdraw the Ethereum tokens that they have staked for years.
Apart from providing solutions for the scalability issue of the network, the Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade is also making way for the inclusion of Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs), including EIP-3651, EIP-3855, and EIP-3860. Among the EIPs that is set to be executed in this upgrade, EIP3651; known as WARM Coinbase; can be a game changer as it is aiming to reduce the network fees for some of the key participants known as the builders.
Note: Coinbase; in this context; is the name of the software that the builders use to receive tokens on the network.
With the system set in place, every new transaction needs multiple interactions with the Coinbase software, which starts with huge fees, and then as the number of transactions increases, the fees amount declines. However, with the EIP3651, the Coinbase software will remain ‘warm’, which means it will require less fees amount to make use of.
Recently, Vitalik shared the next steps that the Ethereum Network has set in place post the succession of The Merge upgrade.
Updated roadmap diagram! pic.twitter.com/MT9BKgYcJH
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 4, 2022
While this inclusion of EIP 3651 is highly beneficial for builders, traders who make use of the builders to execute their trades will also be able to benefit from this; as they will not have to pay the fees for a failed transaction. For now, traders can charge a fee for a transaction, failed or not, since miners have the need to confirm transactions taking place on the chain, irrespective of the success or fail.
The Ethereum Network Upgrades So Far:
| ETHEREUM SHANGHAI UPGRADE | SECOND HALF OF 2023 |
| FINAL ETHEREUM MAINNET MERGE | 15 SEPTEMBER, 2022 |
| BELLATRIX UPDATE | 6 SEPTEMBER, 2022 |
| SEPOLIA TESTNET UPDATE | 22 AUGUST, 2022 |
| GOERLI TESTNET MERGE | 11 AUGUST, 2022 |
| TENTH MAINNET SHADOW FORK | 27 JULY, 2022 |
| SEPOLIA TESTNET MERGE | 6 JULY, 2022 |
| MAINNET SHADOW FORKS | 12 APRIL, 2022 |
| KILN TESTNET MERGE | 16 MARCH, 2022 |
| ARROW GLACIER | 9 DECEMBER, 2021 |
| ALTAIR UPGRADE | 21 OCTOBER, 2021 |
| LONDON HARD FORK | 5 AUGUST, 2021 |
Additional Read: Ethereum Price Prediction
