Wednesday's highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade on the Ethereum blockchain (referred to as “Shapella” by the diehards) is shaping up to be one of those where-were-you-when moments that happen every so often in crypto. Think along the lines of last September’s “Merge” – when Ethereum flipped from a proof-of-work network to proof-of-stake – or the roughly quadrennial bitcoin halvings.
If none of this means anything to you, it’s sort of the blockchain industry’s equivalent of queuing up in the middle of a pasture with a couple of pieces of cardboard to watch a solar eclipse.
As these things go, various factions of the Ethereum and blockchain communities are planning watch parties, while crypto analysts and blockchain historians are getting bearings on the best tools for monitoring the first-ever withdrawals of staked ether (ETH). (Trust us, it’s a big deal for Ethereum, and for the crypto industry in general.)
The Shanghai upgrade is expected on Wednesday at 22:27 UTC (6:27 p.m. ET) and we’ve compiled a list of helpful resources.