Ether Soars to 11-Month High with 1M+ Post-Shapella ETH Withdrawals

In a dramatic turn of events, the Shapella hard fork on Ethereum's Beacon Chain has witnessed a massive exodus of over a million Ether, worth a whopping $2.1 billion, in just the first four days.

According to data from beaconcha.in, over a million ETH withdrawals were made through 473,700 withdrawal requests, with April 15 recording the most significant withdrawal day, with 392,800 ETH withdrawn.

The price of Ether has also skyrocketed to its highest in 11 months, surpassing $2,100. This development has divided opinions among the Ethereum community, with some attributing the surge to the increased stake withdrawals, while others believe it is a natural market trend.

Lachlan Feeney, CEO of blockchain consulting and development firm Labrys, explained that many early stakers wanted to liquidate due to the current macroeconomic climate after waiting nearly 30 months. However, he believes that the Shapella hard fork will ultimately strengthen Ethereum's consensus level, as it is a massive de-risking event.

Markus Thielen, the head of research at the digital asset platform Matrixport, suggested that the recent closure of Kraken's staking services may have played a role in the surge of ETH withdrawals. Despite expecting the optimistic price trend to slow down due to the heightened selling pressure this week, Thielen remains optimistic that the Shapella hard fork will draw more institutional investors to stake in Ethereum.

The 1 million milestones in stake withdrawals is a 500% increase from blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode's prediction on April 11, and on-chain analytics firm Nansen had predicted an even higher figure of 1.4 million Ether to be withdrawn. Nonetheless, the Shapella hard fork has set the stage for a stronger Ethereum in the medium to long term, with experts anticipating a record high of Ether being staked.

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