• Transaction fees on the Ethereum network declined by 3.66% over the previous week.
• The Open Interest (OI) for ETH increased in preparation for the Shanghai hard fork scheduled for April 12th.
• Staking activity on the Ethereum network saw steady growth, with total validators reaching 564,951 and new value staked increasing.
Ethereum [ETH] Price Increase & Shanghai Hard Fork Upgrade
The price of Ethereum (ETH) has seen a 3.36% increase in the 24-hour period to $1813.97, as per CoinMarketCap, along with an 11% increase on a month-to-date (MTD) basis fueled by a broader crypto market recovery. This rise in prices made investors‘ holdings profitable and reached its second consecutive 11-month high as per Glassnode data.
Transaction Fees & Open Interest
Earnings from transaction fees on the network declined by 3.66% over the previous week, however this was offset by an increase in Open Interest (OI). In preparation for the upcoming Shanghai hard fork which is scheduled to go live on 12 April, Ethereum [ETH] developers have asked all network validators to upgrade their nodes and execute one final mainnet shadow fork a week before launch.
Staking Activity
Despite a dip in participation rates due to validator nodes not upgrading during Goerli’s last testnet launch of Shapella, staking activity on the Ethereum network saw steady growth as per data revealed by Glassnode with total number of validators reaching 564,951 and an increase of 5%. However there was decline in new players entering the ecosystem and new value staked growth which might be attributed to lower revenue collected by validators according to Staking Rewards data.
All Core Developers Consensus Call
During All Core Developers Consensus Call updates were given about latest releases after which Alex Stokes asked all stakeholders to follow relevant distribution channels before taking next steps regarding launch of Shanghai Upgrade.
Conclusion
The successful launches of Shapella upgrade on various test networks along with rising ETH prices are positive indicators for Ethereum ahead of its much anticipated Shanghai hard fork scheduled for April 12th 2021