Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Progress

Ethereum’s long-awaited Pectra upgrade took a significant step forward with its successful deployment on the Sepolia test network early Wednesday.

Overview of the Upgrade

The Pectra upgrade, the most substantial change to Ethereum since 2024, consists of 11 major features, identified as “Ethereum Improvement Proposals” (EIPs), which aim to improve staking, wallet capabilities, and overall network efficiency.

The upgrade was completed at 07:29:36 UTC on Sepolia, following a previous failed test on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet.

Issues with Holesky Testnet

The Holesky test encountered a misconfiguration among validators which resulted in a chain split, making it temporarily unusable. Holesky features a validator structure that closely resembles Ethereum’s mainnet and was therefore considered crucial for testing Pectra. Developers are working to restore Holesky and have established an alternative developer network for temporary testing.

Upcoming Discussions

Ethereum developers plan to hold a meeting on March 6 to discuss the timeline for Pectra’s mainnet release. Given the single successful test, they may delay the mainnet launch to ensure stability.

Key Proposals

• EIP-7251: This proposal increases the maximum amount of ETH that can be staked from 32 to 2,048, addressing the issues with the current staking system where validators must divide larger stakes across multiple nodes.
• EIP-7702: This proposal allows crypto wallets to function temporarily as smart contracts, which will lead Ethereum closer to account abstraction. It facilitates user-friendly features such as the ability to pay transaction fees in stablecoins and set up automatic payments.

Context and Concerns

The Pectra upgrade’s problematic testing phase comes amidst pressure on Ethereum developers to expedite upgrades. Some community members worry that Ethereum may be losing its competitive edge to newer blockchains like Solana, which has gained popularity, particularly among meme coin enthusiasts.

Additionally, ETH’s price has recently lagged compared to other prominent cryptocurrencies, compounding concerns within the Ethereum Foundation, which is facing internal leadership issues.

Read more: Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Goes Live on ‘Holesky’ Testnet, but Fails to Finalize