Positive momentum is building up
for the upcoming upgrade to Ethereum, a decentralized blockchain with smart
contract functionality, a survey by OKX, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange, has found.
The two-part Shanghai-Capella
event, which has been dubbed the ‘Shapella’ upgrade, is now scheduled for April 12. The upgrade is
expected to enable users on Ethereum to withdraw their staked ether (ETH), the
native cryptocurrency of the platform.
The upgrade comes eight months
after the Ethereum Merge, a hard fork of the blockchain that saw the
platform’s consensus mechanism switch from the proof-of-work to
proof-of-stake (PoS) system. However, investors have been participating in ETH
staking on Beacon Chain, a PoS blockchain launched on Ethereum in December 2020
and was later merged with the Ethereum Mainnet in September last year.
The expected Shapella upgrade,
initially scheduled for last month, means that investors will be able to
finally withdraw their staked ETH. And OKX’s survey found that a majority (83%)
of the Ethereum community expects that more ETH will be staked in the next
three months, suggesting positive perception of the development.
📣 Hot off the press 📣
Latest #OKX survey finds out 83% of the community expects more ETH staking around #Shapella upgrade 🤯
More insights for #Ethereum enthusiasts here: https://t.co/sRV8op1VHA pic.twitter.com/kZwt8g6Jn1
— OKX (@okx) April 7, 2023
According to OKX, its findings
are based on a survey of 700 ETH traders, investors and network developers
between March 1-5, 2023, at the ETH Denver Conference.
CoinMarketCap’s latest data
shows that the price of ETH as of April 7, 2023, stood at over $1,800,
rising from about $1820 seven days ago. However, the majority (63%) of respondents
in OKX’s survey expects ETH to peak at over USD$5,000 by year-end.
Price movement of ETHER over the past seven days. Source: CoinMarketCap
Furthermore, another majority
(79%) expects the price of ETH to react differently to the Shapella upgrade than it did to the Merge. Of this majority, 59% believe the price of ETH
will keep increasing before and after the upgrade. On the other hand, under a
quarter (20%) of them expects ETH price to move sideways.
“Thirty-three percent of
respondents think ETH will be over its current six-month high of USD2,000 in
June 2023, but still below its 12-month high of USD3,000. [Another] 34% of
those surveyed predict ETH at below $2,000, while 33% believe it will be…
