April 12 marks the end of one of the most patient waits in blockchain history. From then on, Ethereum investors can finally withdraw a $31 billion stash of ETH that started piling up at the tail end of 2020. That’s due to Ethereum’s latest upgrade, dubbed Shanghai, which unlocks close to 18 million so-called "staked ETH" from the blockchain—about 15% of all that's in circulation.
The giant token unlock marks the completion of Ethereum’s most significant upgrade to date—the Merge. Most significantly, the Merge cut ties with warehouses of crypto miners by combining the old blockchain with a new network that runs on an environmentally friendly transaction-validation mechanism called proof of stake.
