Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade is fast approaching with an expected implementation set for tomorrow. And users of the network are anticipating what the upgrade’s effect on the network will be. Concerns are beginning to circulate that with excitement of tokens being unlocked could create a cascade of sell action, which would result in the price of ETH falling.

The great unstaking

While there are concerns, experts in the space are suggesting that we are unlikely to see a mass sell off. This is in part due to the fact that unstaking of Ethereum will take time to be processed – with the length of delay varying from 5 days to 4 months depending on the amount being withdrawn.

This might prevent to some extent a large portion of ETH being unstaked and sold at the same time. Additionally, ETH is still trading significantly below its market highs, so the incentive to immediately sell the ETH-based profits of staking is further diminished.

A long time coming

The withdrawal of staked ETH is one of the most highly anticipated events in the crypto industry at the moment. And with more than 18m ETH staked since its Beacon Chain went live, the implications of the change for the network could be substantial.

Some exchanges such as Kraken have also been coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny for their offering of staking services, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes that in some instances they could be considered securities.