Ethereum Developers Target March 2023 for Release of Staked Ether

During the latest All Core Developers call, Ethereum developers determined the network's next hard fork, called “Shanghai,” will have a target release timeframe of March 2023. This upgrade will include code known as EIP 4895 that will allow Beacon Chain staked ether (ETH) withdrawals.

Developers also agreed to address the implementation of the EVM Object Format (EOF) in Shanghai, which is a collection of EIPs that essentially upgrade the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the environment where Ethereum is able to execute smart contracts. Those Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) are EIP 3540, EIP 3670, EIP 4200, EIP 4570, EIP 5450.

If EOF seems too complicated to implement by the next All Core Developers call planned for Jan. 5, developers agreed that they will push back EOF to the fall, so that they don’t delay staked ETH withdrawals.

Developers also agreed to a second hard fork sometime in the fall of 2023, that would address another significant scaling upgrade – proto-danksharding, also known as EIP 4844. EIP 4844 would make Ethereum more scalable through sharding.