On March 15th, the Ethereum Goerli testnet activated the Shapella upgrade, with a validation node participation rate of only 29% during block triggering. This low rate is concerning for Ethereum, and during a live stream on YouTube, the product lead for Ethereum client Teku, Ben Edgington, acknowledged that low participation may be due to nodes not upgrading to the Goerli fork in a timely manner.
According to Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko’s tweet, the Goerli testnet is processing deposits, but some validation nodes have not yet upgraded. One challenge for validating nodes on the testnet is the lack of incentive due to ETH having no value. Another possible reason is the handling of a large number of withdrawal certificate changes at the fork. This being the first time these changes have been submitted, more needs to be done, which could result in lost blocks/proofs on low-resource nodes.
Furthermore, Ethereum developers will hold a conference call on March 16th from 10:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. to determine the Shanghai upgrade date for the mainnet. This news highlights the importance of timely upgrades and participation in the Ethereum network for its continued success.