All you need to know about the Shanghai upgrade

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Last month, we shared “100 Days After the Merge”, an insightful article that teased  information about the upcoming Shanghai hard fork upgrade.
Following on from that, we’ve now put together the Blockdaemon Shanghai FAQ, which you can find on our blog.

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Want to hear more about how Blockdaemon can help you with your Blockchain journey? Contact us today to chat more about our blockchain solutions, or read on to get a closer look at what’s new.

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This FAQ is primarily aimed at our institutional clients, and offers practical advice around the questions we gathered from our staking customers. If you’re interested in Ethereum staking, you should check it out today.

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As always, we’d love to hear what you think and any questions you might have. Reply to this newsletter I’ll get back to you, and add your question to the FAQ.
Also, it’s worth noting that the Ethereum Foundation also recently published their own FAQ - It’s a really useful resource if you’re more technically inclined.

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You can personally guarantee L2 integrity

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If you are like me, you don’t contribute to protocol core development, it’s just not really an option. Despite that, there is still a way to leave your mark on Ethereum and personally ensure that the Shanghai upgrade is working honestly - potentially for decades to come.

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If that sounds interesting, I recommend reading the KZG Ceremony announcement - IIt just needs one honest participant, out of tens of thousands, to guarantee the magical math that secures EIP-4844 aka proto-danksharding when it goes live in the second half of 2023.  It is easy to contribute, and the deadline for public contributions is March 13th.

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Announcing the KZG Ceremony | Ethereum Foundation Blog

Stealth addresses as a way to increase privacy

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A lot of fundamental problems that people worry about in blockchain technology are basically solved, or at least solvable, over the next few years. Whether that is the energy consumption of PoW, or scalability/transaction fees, or any of numerous other  examples.

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But for me, privacy is the fundamental challenge that we still need to overcome.

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While obviously many interesting aspects are in the works (e.g. privacy-preserving transfers/mixers, ZK tech of all flavors), it still seems risky to keep too much of your identity on-chain. So this recent blog post from Vitalik called “An incomplete guide to stealth addresses” adds a very interesting aspect. To my great surprise, I learned that there is already a project implementing this , called “Umbra”. And there is somewhat related technology to Defeat Front-Running on Ethereum as well - so maybe the future of selective privacy is closer than I thought?

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How to select the right MEV-relay

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After the Merge, Blockdaemon was one of the first staking providers to embrace MEV-boost and enable customers to benefit from MEV rewards. Since then, the MEV supply chain has diversified rapidly.

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By providing you additional MEV relays to connect to, we ensure you receive the following benefits:

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• Optimal resilience (if one relay is completely offline, there is an alternative to not miss MEV rewards)
• Optimal relay diversity (fostering competition in MEV supply chain as a strategic goal)
• Optimal financial upside (if average payments are continuously higher than other relays)

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However, this needs to be carefully balanced against different needs with regards to compliance, as well as technical reliability and overall maturity/professionalism of the relay teams. Stay tuned for more details on our vetting process!

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Blockdaemon at Eth Denver

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Come join Blockdaemon at the biggest Ethereum event of the year, Eth Denver's Year of the Spork! Whether you're a developer, institutional investor, or just an Ethereum enthusiast, make sure to stop by our booth in the Devtopia section.

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On March 1st, we've partnered with BitGo, Metrika, and Noves to host an institutional networking brunch open to all ETH Denver attendees. Enjoy some delicious bites while networking with key institutional players. Featuring a panel discussion: The Path Forward for Institutions Building on Blockchain. Register now.

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Freddy Zwanzger

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Blockdaemon Ethereum Ecosystem Lead

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"The future is on Ethereum—the most vibrant, mature, and diverse decentralized ecosystem."
[email protected]

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