Ethereum will be open to ETH withdrawal by stacking in March 2023

The Shanghai hardfork in the Ethereum network is scheduled to take place in March 2023. This decision was approved today by the network’s developers. The update will open the withdrawal of ETH blocked on the Beacon Chain stacking contracts.

In addition to this, the developers plan to implement a number of other improvements. We are talking about EIP-3540, EIP-3670, EIP-4200, EIP-4750 and EIP-5450. They are needed to implement the EOF format. This upgrade allows smart contracts to be validated and modified during deployment.

However, the timeline for EOF implementation could shift to fall 2023 if the implementation proves too difficult. In the meantime, another fork is planned that will activate the EIP-4844 standard. It implements most of the formats and logic of proto-danksharding technology (but without actually implementing it in blockchain yet).

Here’s a comment from Ethereum Foundation analyst Danny Ryan on the subject:

“Consensus level teams believe that EIP-4844 is not at the same level of readiness as [EIP-4895]. Putting them together would greatly slow down the integration of ETH output.”