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At least a few Ethereum enthusiasts are as bullish as ever on the network.

Per data collected from Nansen, gross staking deposits have hit $198.7 million, or 94,800 ETH, over the past 24 hours.

Staking has taken center stage following the networks latest Shanghai upgrade on Wednesday. This change allowed users who potentially had their ETH locked up for two years to finally withdraw their holdings. Staking is when users pledge cryptocurrency to the network to keep it running. Ethereum requires staking because it now runs on a proof-of-stake blockchainwhich uses validators instead of miners to secure the network.

Those who stake earn digital currency rewards in the process. Ethereum made the move to proof of stake last year in a highly-anticipated transition, known as the merge.

Getting back to the latest data, ETH deposits are still negative, however, indicating that there remain overall more entities withdrawing than staking assets.

Thats expected since its just the beginning, Nansen analyst Martin Lee told Decrypt. Validators that have accrued excess ETH from earnings would want to unstake since theyre only accruing rewards on 32 ETH.

Validators can either choose between a "partial exit" or a "full exit" when leaving the network. A partial exit refers to validators simply skimming off any accrued rewards, but continue to keep their 32 ETH stake on the network. A full exit refers to validators that choose to withdraw their rewards, initial 32 ETH deposit, and leave the network entirely.

Interestingly, yesterday there was even a brief moment in which deposits far outpaced withdrawals, with 27,000 ETH deposited and just 7,615 ETH withdrawn.

"Top deposits so far have come from a few entities. Lido, OKX, Kiln.fi, Frax," said Lee. "However, most notably from this wallet that we have labeled as 'P2p ETH2 Depositor.' [They] Deposited 50,000 ETH."

Source: Nansen

As for withdrawals trending downward, Lee indicated that the network will soon hit a baseline once this first wave of validators can claim any accumulated rewards.

Its expected to see a surge at the start since, as mentioned above, even validators that want to continue staking would want to withdraw their accrued earnings and restake it, he told Decrypt.

At press time, there are more than 874,000 ETH still waiting to exit the network.

Based on current trends, though, its likely that some of that ETH will get put right back to work.

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$198M in Ethereum Staked to Network in Last 24 Hours - Decrypt

Ethereums post-Shanghai bull run has hit a lull.

Its price touched lows of $2,080 on Monday morning, while Bitcoin struggled to hold onto the $30,000 support level.

The bullish run-up may have been paused in part due to the U.S. Federal Reserve's statements regarding one more rate hike in the upcoming May policy rate meeting.

Additionally, withdrawals from Ethereum staking contracts continue to outpace deposits, potentially adding sell pressure to the asset, per data from Nansen. On April 15, there was also a massive 85,393 ETH withdrawal executed at 10 am ET followed by another 66,030 ETH withdrawal an hour later.

ETH withdrawals and deposits as of April 17, 2023. Source: Nansen.

Ethereum's price has risen roughly 12% since last weeks Shanghai upgrade. It enabled withdrawals of staked ETH from the proof-of-staking chain, a feature not available since staking was first launched in December 2020.

The network quickly saw a hefty inflow of deposits to the staking contracts and the market reacted positively to the successful change, with Ethereum propelled to new yearly highs above $2,129.

However, on April 14, statements from Fed officials that hinted at another rate hike in May strengthened the dollar. A strong dollar can have a negative impact on other, more risky assets such as cryptocurrencies and stocks.

Christopher Waller, a member of the Feds governing board, and Atlanta Fed President, Raphael Bostic, told Reuters on Friday that the Fed may go through one more quarter-percentage gain before ending its quantitative tightening to curb inflation.

The CME FedWatch tool, a survey of CMEs interest rate traders, currently places an 88.2% chance that the Fed will increase its rate.

Another rate hike makes the dollar an attractive investment in annual returns, too, potentially diminishing the appeal of top cryptocurrencies like Ethereum to investors looking for stable yields.

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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Ethereum Tapers Gains After 12% Rise Post-Shanghai - Decrypt

Ethereum ETH/USD rival Solana SOL/USD and Avalanche AVAX/USD are up 3.8% and 6.7%, respectively, in the last 24 hours, even apex crypto Bitcoin BTC/USD and ETH weakened.

What Happened: Solana surged by 22.63% over the week and was last trading at $25.22.

This jump in price follows the recent launch of Saga, an Android smartphone integrated with the Solana blockchain, by Solana Mobile a subsidiary of Solana Labs. Additionally, Solana Labs has partnered with Boba Guys, a U.S.-based drink retailer, to deliver an on-chain loyalty reward program.

See More: Top Indian Apps That Give Bitcoin, NFT Rewards

Last week, the Layer 1 blockchain protocol Avalanche gained momentum, hitting a six-month high in daily active addresses.

According to Artemis.xyz, a blockchain data analytics firm, Avalanche recorded nearly 80,000 daily active addresses on April 12, and its daily active user base has grown by 85% in the last 90 days. Interestingly, this growth rate places Avalanche ahead of popular protocols like BNB Chain, Tron, Ethereum, Aptos, and even Bitcoin.

At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at $20.67.

Price Action At the time of writing, BTC was trading down 1.52%, while ETH fell 0.32% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

Read More: Ethereum, Dogecoin Rise Even As Bitcoin Drops Below $30K: Why This Analyst Thinks Apex Crypto Can Hit All-Time High This Year

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These 2 Ethereum Rivals Are Spiking Today, Outperforming Bitcoin - Emeren Group (NYSE:SOL) - Benzinga

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Since Ethereums highly anticipated proof-of-stake update, Shapella, completed smoothly, and the market price of ether shot up over $2,000 per token, crypto developers are even more optimistic about the future of Web3.

And though we may see increased selling pressures in the coming weeks for fear the upgrade will attract regulators attention, the current state of staked ETH holdings seems to indicate stability.

According to research published by BeInCrypto this month 60% of all staked ETH is held at a loss, including the holdings at Lido DAODAO. Holding approximately 30% of all staked ETH at an average loss of over $1,000 per token, this would seem to work against excessive selling, which normally occurs when investors are sitting on relatively large gains. So, if the Shapella upgrade is not primed to lead to forced selling of staked ETH, what are some of the implications of this upgrade?

Lets take a look at a few of the reasons why this most recent upgrade may cause a boom period for Ethereum development and innovation.

The Ethereum 2.0 upgrade process has been underway for years, and some validators have had staked ether locked up for multiple years at this point. A major component of the Shapella upgrade is that for first time users can withdraw these funds in one of two ways. A partial withdrawal allows users to withdraw the block rewards that have accumulated over time and have been taxed even though they have not been accessible that are in excess of the 32 ETH balance necessary to run a validating node. A full withdrawal, as the name indicates, would allow users to withdrawal the totality of staked ETH.

In any case this Shapella upgrade will create a more liquid and easily tradeable marketplace for ETH going forward, which will help developers, investors, and innovators create more robust and differentiated products.

Estimates vary, but over the coming week there are going to be tens of billions in ether that, after being locked up in staking protocols for various lengths of time, will be released to these users. In addition to increasing liquidity and market depth for traders, this will also mean there will be literally more ETH available for developers and innovators seeking to build new applications running on the Ethereum blockchain.

Every cryptoasset faces the following price paradox; if investors and the market in general believes that the price of this token will increase dramatically over a period of time, the likelihood of this same token being used as fuel, or gas for applications will dimmish. With limited volatility resulting from this upgrade, sentiment seems to indicate that developers will be more comfortable building more non-financial and non-speculative applications using ETH going forward.

With the Ethereum blockchain already forming the bedrock of many Layer 2 and Web3 applications and use cases, having a more liquid market for these tokens will invariably make it simpler and faster to continue these existing trends.

One additional benefit to this upgrade, the subsequent releasing of staked ether, and refocusing on this token in particular, is that it will reignite the conversations that had previously occurred around the topic of classification. Crypto regulation is a hotly debated and contentious topic, with many bemoaning the regulation-by-edict approach that Gary Gensler seems to be taking at the Securities and Exchange Commission. That said, and accompanied by pressure by some lawmakers for additional clarity into how these decisions are being made, Ethers rising prominence might force regulatory issues back onto the front burner.

Specifically, the treatment of staking rewards, and the staking process overall, has been a contentious topic between some in the tax community. Under current U.S. tax guidance, staking rewards are taxed upon creation, even if these rewards were unable to be accessed previously. As these rewards and assets become more widely traded, able to be reinvested into other projects, and better understood by institutions and individuals alike, regulators will hopefully be forced to take a more productive stance.

The Shapella upgrade has been a long time coming, was successfully completed, and has altered the ETH landscape in significant ways moving forward. Investors, developers, and regulators alike should take notice.

I am a professor at the City University of New York Lehman College. I serve on the Advisory Board of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, where I chair the Accounting Work Group. I am also the chairperson of the NJCPA's Emerging Technologies Interest Group (#NJCPATech). I sit on the Advisory Board of Gilded, a TechStars 19 company and AICPA-CPA.com startup accelerator participant. I was a Visiting Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research during 2019.

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Ethereum Upgrade: How Shapella Could Expand Crypto Adoption - Forbes

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The Shanghai and Capella upgrades, collectively known as Shapella, which enabled unstaking for the first time since ETH staking was introduced in December 2020, went live last week precisely on April 12.

In general, the Ethereum network has seen withdrawals in the last five days, taken from the date of the Shapella upgrade. Colin Wu of Wu Blockchain reports that the total amount of Ethereum withdrawn as of April 17 at 10:00 a.m. UTC+8 surpassed 1 million, while 368,000 ETH were deposited.

Wu reported that the number of Ethereum waiting to be withdrawn is 892,000, with Kraken and Huobi contributing more to the pressure. Lido Exchange, which holds 33% of staked ETH, has not yet opened withdrawals.

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain provides an in-depth analysis of the ETH withdrawals, including the amount truly sold off and the amount restaked.

According to Lookonchain, a total of 1,024,099 ETH worth $2.15 billion have been withdrawn. Of this, Lookonchain finds that 158,592 ETH worth $333 million were sold off after the Shapella upgrade.

Meanwhile, some addresses restaked ETH after withdrawing, with a total of 34,198 ETH worth $72 million staked.

Following the Shapella upgrade last week, the price of Ethereum (ETH) has remained stable. Ethereum surpassed the $2,000 threshold, peaking at $2,142 on April 16.

Since reaching a low of $1,369 on March 10, Ether has been steadily increasing in value. At the time of writing, ETH had increased slightly over the previous 24 hours to $2,083.

The Ethereum blockchain's successful upgrade provided better-than-anticipated Ether price movement. The market, however, continues to keep a look out on the Ethereum price to see if profit-taking ensues.

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1 Million Ethereum (ETH) Withdrawn Since Shapella, Here's How Price Reacted - U.Today