Ethereum Maintains Bullish Form As Developer Confirms Date For Shanghai Upgrade

Following the market bounce this week, Ethereum (ETH) has been one of the most profitable tokens with better market performances than most altcoins, including Cardano(ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Solana (SOL). The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap began the week trading around the price region of $1,588 before rising by about 12% to almost hit the $1,800 price level for the first time since August 2022.

Timeline of Ethereum

The highly-anticipated Shanghai upgrade also called Shapella, that would enable the withdrawal of staked Ethereum [ETH] has finally got a mainnet launch date, as decided during the network's All Core Developers Call.

PLBY Group (NASDAQ: PLBY), the parent company of Hugh Hefner's Playboy, reported an impairment loss of $4.9 million on its Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) holdings. What Happened: The company accepted Ethereum as payment for the “Rabbitars” non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, that were launched in 2021.

Ethereum (ETH) investors are inching closer to accessing their staked ETH after the network's developers announced a new possible date for the highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade. 

Playboy, founded by the late Hugh Hefner, announced a staggering impairment loss of $5 million on its Ethereum holdings from last year. The company attributed the loss to the prolonged crypto winter that had a significant impact on the broader market, causing a decline in cryptocurrency prices.

Crypto analytics platform Santiment says sharks have accumulated a whopping $6.13 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) in the past year. However, the market intelligence firm says that whales have dumped a lot of their ETH holdings during the same time period. ETH sharks picked up 3.

The rate at which the Ether (ETH) supply is deflating, which has been accelerating in recent weeks, recently saw a spike higher. Ether is the cryptocurrency that powers the smart-contract-enabled Ethereum blockchain. ETH is the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization and Ethereum is the dominant blockchain in Decentralized Finance.

Last Thursday morning, I wondered whether I needed to write a follow-up piece about Silvergate Bank. On Thursday evening, I wondered whether my main topic should instead be about ether potentially being a security.

During the Execution Layer Meeting streamed on March 16, 2023, Ethereum developers announced that the blockchain is scheduled to upgrade on April 12, in 27 days. The upgrade, known as the Shanghai-Capella upgrade or Shapella, will include the implementation of Beacon chain push withdrawals.

Coinbase users may face delays in unstaking their ETH after Ethereum's Shapella upgrade, due to on-chain processing. Coinbase advises users to be patient and offers a liquid staking option, "cbETH.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)'s hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee Wednesday was dominated by the discussion around digital assets. The commission took a firm stance against the SEC regarding the classification of Ether and Stablecoins.