Ethereum devs have begun preparations for the awaited Pectra mainnet upgrade, which is now scheduled for March 2025. Originally scheduled for late 2024, this upgrade was delayed because of added features and scope. The upgrade is designed to increase the efficiency and user experience of the Ethereum network almost ninefold.
Early key milestones are already on the table. Going forward, Sepolia and Holesky test networks will face hard forks in February 2025, post new client software releases. If it passes, the mainnet update will follow in March. The upcoming block number and launch date will be finalized in meetings scheduled for January 20 and January 30.
The Pectra upgrade will combine several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs):
- Focusing on Versatile crypto wallets and account abstraction.
- Raising the max validator stake cap from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH.
- Improving deposit and exit processes for validators
Additionally, the devnets — or the short-term environmental testing — have already been tested on this end including for the Mekong short-term testnet that launched Nov 2024. Right now the focus lies on fixing gas fee estimation problems identified during testing and on resetting RPC standards for smoother running of the network.
The upgrade timeline was confirmed by Ethereum developers during its 203rd All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call on Jan. 16. New client software is targeted for a Feb. 3 release, with fork test dates of Feb. 12 (Sepolia) and Feb. 19 (Holesky). Assuming nothing major goes wrong, these steps will help prepare the network for a mainnet rollout in March.
In a recent report on the meeting, Christine Kim, vice president of Galaxy Research, noted that the developers at the ACDE meeting seemed confident they could deliver an upgrade by the end of March. Although minor bugs might still create some delays, the team is confident with the development progress that has been made so far.
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