- The Ethereum Zhejiang public testnet went live on February 1, just according to the plan.
- The testnet paves the way for the Shanghai and Capella upgrade testnet.
- Ethereum price has responded positively to the launch by maintaining a positive sentiment.
At press time, Ethereum (ETH) price was $1,672.19, up 5.80% in the past 24 hours a day after the launch of the Zhenjiang public testnet.
While the testnet may not have much of an impact on the price of ETH since it has been on an upward trend since the start of 2023, it is important to acknowledge that if the launch went south, the price would definitely have been negatively affected.
What next for Ethereum?
The Zhenjiang public testnet is designed to allow Ethereum users to test and evaluate the process of withdrawing the staked ETH tokens and also test the network functionality after the Shanghai upgrade. Users can test validator deposits, familiarize themselves with how to change BLS, and evaluate the user interface navigation without risks.
That said, the testnet is a great pointer for the upcoming upgrades and sets the stage for Ethereum to go ahead with the next upgrades.
It is important to also acknowledge that The Zhenjiang testnet is the first release for the Ethereum development team since the highly successful Merge upgrade that made Ethereum a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain.
Staked ETH
Currently, about 16.3 million Ether tokens have been locked on the Beacon Chain (Ethereum PoS chain). This represents about 13.5% of the total ETH circulating supply.
At the current market price, the staked ETH tokens are valued at about $27.257 billion. Unlocking these tokens will be a huge boost to the Ethereum ecosystem and investors will now not have to worry about when their staked ETH and interest will be available for use.