Ethereum Shanghai upgrade may start as early as October

According to official news, Ethereum developers are currently discussing the priority of the Shanghai upgrade. One option is that the Shanghai upgrade will be launched as another functional fork, including EIPs not included in the London upgrade.

Another option is to adopt Vitliak Buterin's fast merge proposal and use the Shanghai upgrade as a merger of Eth1 and Eth2. If the first option is adopted and the Shanghai upgrade is launched as a functional fork, it may be launched in October 2021. If the latter is adopted, it will be postponed to a later time.

The Shanghai upgrade is the Ethereum hard fork upgrade following the London upgrade. The Shanghai upgrade may include EIPs that did not enter the London upgrade, as the London upgrade will only make a few changes (delayed difficulty bomb and EIP-1559) to minimize the complexity of the upgrade. The Shanghai upgrade EIPs may include 3298 (eliminating gas refunds for SSTORE and SELFDESTRUCT) or 3322 (effective gas refunds).