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As with most things surrounding the Merge, there is a lot of hearsay and rumors going around. One of the more common is, or I should say was, that as soon as the Merge happens you would be able to unstake your Ethereum. I hope that you were aware that this was never going to be the case.
Staking your Ethereum
Now that Ethereum has switched to a Proof of Stake model of validation. It is paramount for the blockchain that there is staked Ethereum. Or I should say enough staked Ethereum. One way they were ensuring there would be no unstaking shenanigans after the Merge was to simply not allow it. And this is the route the Ethereum developers have chosen.
It was always clearly stated that this was the goal and plan in the official documents. In those, it was also clearly stated "when" the unstaking would be enabled again. And this would be with the next fork, the Shanghai Fork. The Shanghai Fork is expected to take place around 6 months after the Merge.
No unstaking according to one of the core developers
Now for the twist. As exchanges like Kraken clarified to the people who staked their Ethereum. They needed to what for the Shanghai Fork in order to be able unstake their Ethereum.
On the Ethereum discord server, one of the core developers was not very keen on this "misinformation".
If Micah is unaware of the fact that what he is saying differs from the info that has been and still is, available. I do not know. But if we look at the official Ethereum.org website we can see the following.
In order to simplify and maximize focus on a successful transition to proof-of-stake, The Merge upgrade did not include certain anticipated features such as the ability to withdraw staked ETH. The Shanghai upgrade is planned to follow The Merge, which will enable the ability for stakers to withdraw.
And a similar thing can be found on Tim Beiko?s Ethereum roadmap on Github.
Withdrawals be enabled at The Merge, they will come in the fork after. [The Shanghai Fork.]
And I do understand what Micah is saying, about other things being more important. But it is things like this that start the speculation and rumor going. And whether we will get unstaking at the Shanghai Fork remains to be seen. Personally, until I hear otherwise from official sources, that is what I am going by, and planning for.
Links to the tweet, Ethereums website, and the Github roadmap can be found down below.
Do you think Ethereum will stick to their initial plan of enabling unstaking with the Shanghai Fork? Or will there be some sort of delay shenanigans? I can see the headlines alreadyEthereums Shanghai Shenanigans, or Ethereum just Shanghaied your Staked Ethereum. Something along those lines.
Have you staked Ethereum, and if so are you "worried" about when you will be able to unstake it? Please share your thoughts on the situation in the comment section down below. If you would like to support me and the content I make, please consider following me, reading my other posts, or why not do both instead.
See you on the interwebs!
Picture provided by: Midjourney
