According to a recent survey conducted by OKX, the second biggest global crypto exchange by trading volume, a significant majority of the Ethereum (ETH) community expects an increase in ETH staking around the time of the Shapella upgrade. More importantly, the majority predicts ETH’s price will hit a new all-time high.

Ethereum Community Is Bullish For The Upcoming Months 

The survey conducted by OKX offers insight into Ethereum’s community expectations for the future of the network. Per the survey, most of the respondents anticipate an increase in ETH staking in the next three months, driven in part by the upcoming Shapella upgrade; more exactly 83% of the respondents believe this theory. 

Regarding price predictions, 63% of those surveyed believe that ETH will reach a new record high of over $5,000 by the end of 2023. However, there is some disagreement among respondents as to how ETH’s price will react to the Shapella upgrade. 59% expect the price to continue to increase before and after the upgrade, and 20% anticipate a period of sideways movement. 

When asked specifically about ETH’s price in June 2023, 33% of respondents expect it to be over its current six-month high of $2,000 but below its 12-month high of $3,000. Meanwhile, 34% predict ETH to be below $2,000, while 33% believe it will be at least $3,100. 

ETH Staking Grows In Popularity 

According to the survey, as of April 5th, 2023, 17.9 million ETH had been staked on the Ethereum network. This represents a significant amount of value, equivalent to over $34 billion, highlighting the growing popularity of ETH staking to generate passive income in the industry. 

Additionally, investors who stake their ETH can earn an annual percentage rate (APR) of 4.64% on their holdings. However, as the pool of staked ETH increases, the APR decreases, reflecting the growing competition among stakers for rewards. 

According to OKX, it plans to begin processing withdrawal requests for staked ETH within one week of the Shapella upgrade going live to meet the growing demand for ETH staking. 

The survey was conducted by OKX at the ETH Denver conference between March 1-5, 2023, and included 700 participants, including ETH traders, investors, and network developers, according to OKX. 

Overall, the growing popularity of ETH staking and the increasing amount of value being staked on the Ethereum network reflect the growing maturity and adoption of the nascent industry over the last months, along with the confidence investors have regained with the taw of the crypto winter. 

ETH is trading sideways with a $1,850, representing a 0.6% decrease over the last 24 hours. However, the cryptocurrency is still holding onto its profits gained in the past 7 days, with a 3.5% profit in the seven-day timeframe.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com