With the rapid market surge and heightened interest in NFT marketplaces, Ordinals, AI, and Bitcoin smart contracts, 2023 has so far delivered a wealth of both new and renewed narratives. However, there’s much more to come this March, and the year’s most anticipated event has still yet to occur.
Ethereum’s largest upgrade since the Merge
Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, which some developers previously indicated could happen in March, will enable users to fully un-stake their staked Ethereum, ending the current undefined lock-up period for staked ETH.
Shanghai is coupled with the Capella upgrade, referred to as Shapella, and was successfully implemented on the Sepolia testnet a few days ago. Next in line before Shapella hits the mainnet is the Groeli testnet. The next test may occur around March 20 if developers repeat their 3-week test schedule. If successful, we could see Shapella hit the mainnet by early April.
The Shapella upgrade will bring much attention to staking on Ethereum and possibly other forms of staking, including more flexible liquid staking derivatives (LSD) like Lido Finance. After the upgrade, staking directly on Ethereum will still require a 32 ETH minimum locked up until it’s un-staked. In comparison, LSDs allow anyone to stake ETH and receive a derivative token and staking rewards, often with a much lower barrier to entry. Also, the derivate token is not locked up and can be used for other purposes and redeemed later 1:1.
Layer 0, Layer 1, and Layer 2
Several other layers 2 chains will receive upgrades in March. Regarding Ethereum scaling solutions, the Bedrock upgrade on Optimism is scheduled for March 15. It will improve compatibility with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), reduce fees, and increase performance. In addition, Polygon will launch the beta for its zkEVM on March 27. The beta test announcement came as several companies are vying to implement zkEVMs before the others.
The decentralized storage protocol Filecoin plans to launch its Filcoin EVM (FEVM) upgrade on March 14, bringing smart contract functionality and decentralized applications to the Filecoin network. In addition, it’s anticipated that Cosmos may perform the v9-Lambda upgrade in mid-March, bringing a much greater level of security to its ecosystem.
NFTs, DeFi, and more
There’s also more cooking in the DeFi and NFT space. Yuga Labs, the team behind the massively successful Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, is expected to launch its first Bitcoin-based NFT collection this week under the name TwelveFold. Meanwhile, Yearn Finance’s token YFI entered March on the rise after it teased its upcoming LSD token, yETH, which has yet to be given a launch date.
Also, Helium, the internet of things blockchain, announced plans last month to migrate to the Solana blockchain. The upgrade is scheduled for March 27 and will roll out over 24 hours, with the HNT, MOBILE, and IOT tokens all making Solana their new home.
Stay informed on major upgrades and new projects
March is set to be an important month for several chains and protocols, with some implementing massive improvements. While the content above scratches the surface, understanding and keeping track of the technical aspects of each blockchain can seem overwhelming.
However, to find high-quality content and learning materials ranging from beginner level all the way to advanced, the platform to check out is Gate Learn. It offers many articles and courses to walk readers through topics such as Bitcoin, zero-knowledge (ZK), NFTs, staking, DeFi, and more.
Lastly, with so much happening on popular chains in March, many new promising projects may slip through the cracks. Gate.io Startup can help with this, assisting traders in staying informed on brand new high-quality projects and gaining early access on or before launch and listing.
