Ethereum is set to launch its Sepolia Testnet on February 18th, 2021. This will be the first step towards the Shanghai Hard Fork, which is scheduled for March 1st. The Sepolia testnet will allow developers and users to test out new features that are planned for Ethereum’s upcoming upgrade.
The Shanghai hard fork represents a major milestone in Ethereum’s development roadmap as it paves the way for more scalability and usability of decentralized applications (dApps) built on top of Ethereum blockchain technology. With this upgrade, dApp developers can expect faster transaction speeds with lower costs compared to current levels due to improved network efficiency resulting from sharding implementation and other optimizations made possible by ETH 2 upgrades such as EIP-1559 fee market changes and ProgPoW algorithm switchover.
Additionally, the hard fork also introduces two new opcodes: CREATE2 & STATICCALL which further enhance smart contract security by allowing contracts deployed using these instructions not be affected or altered even if their code has been changed since deployment – making them safer than ever before!
As we move closer towards our goal of creating an efficient global financial system powered by decentralization technologies like Ethereum’s blockchain platform – it’s important that we continue testing these updates thoroughly so they can provide maximum value when released into production environment later this year! We look forward seeing what else comes out in terms of innovation from ETH 2 team over next few months leading up until official mainnet launch date sometime mid 2021!
