Since the implementation of the Shapella hard fork on April 12, the price of Ether has risen almost 10%, surpassing $2,100 for the first time in 11 months. According to data from beaconcha.in, over 1 million Ether worth $2.1 billion has been withdrawn from Ethereum’s Beacon Chain in the first four days of the upgrade. Out of the total 540,000 validators currently active, approximately 87% or 469,000 validators have become eligible to withdraw their staked Ether.
Blockchain consulting and development firm Labrys’ CEO, Lachlan Feeney, said that the stake being withdrawn is being restaked back onto the Beacon Chain as validators seek to compound their interest, thus increasing the net stake. He believes that Shapella will only increase the amount of Ether staked over the medium to long term, further strengthening Ethereum at the consensus level. According to Markus Thielen, who serves as the head of research at Matrixport, a digital asset platform, the Shapella upgrade is likely to lure additional institutional investors to participate in Ethereum staking.
