These Altcoins Are Rising Before Shanghai Update

Ethereum developers recently stated that the Shanghai upgrade, one of the planned updates of the network, will focus only on withdrawals of locked Ethers. With the Shanghai update, the unlocked funds of validators on the Ethereum network will be released. If everything goes well, the update will take place in March, so that after the Merge update, the worry of accessing the locked Ether in the side chain will end, which caused a question mark in the minds. In the current roadmap, for Shanghai to go live in March, developers must release a public testnet by the end of February.

Towards the end of 2022, developers set a date for the next major Ethereum update, increasing interest in platforms that provide liquid staking services on the network. The launch of ETHs on the Beacon Chain, the side chain of Ethereum, has again increased confidence in the second largest Blockchain network in the crypto market. Market commentators, on the other hand, find this development extremely positive for the development of liquid staking platforms that offer better incentives and rates of return.

Instead of staking directly on the Ethereum network, these platforms offer a flexible method of earning without the key requirement at lower margin amounts. In the current situation, the fact that the locked funds will be opened to circulation after the Shanghai update has also increased the confidence in these platforms. Each of these platforms, which provide liquid staking services, also has local staking assets that offer additional income. The value of these crypto assets continues to increase as the demand for protocols increases.

Lido DAO, which currently has the largest share among these protocols, has 4.8 million ETH staking, which corresponds to 30% of the total staked ETH. The platform’s governance token, LDO, is one of the cryptocurrencies that has benefited the most from this momentum in recent weeks. After seeing a sharp drop from August to mid-December, after the Shanghai update was given a date, LDO turned its direction up and gained 200% from its low of $0.87 to $2.64 in a 2-week period. After seeing a correction to $2, LDO has held steady at this level this week, reversing most of the losses in the recent bearish momentum. Local assets on platforms such as Rocket Pool, Stake Wise and Frax, which operate in the same sector apart from Lido, gained a significant upward momentum.