Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade goes live today on the Holesky testnet at 9:55 PM UTC. Developers will test new features before the mainnet activation.
The Ethereum Foundation confirmed the upgrade will launch on Holesky at epoch 115968 and on Sepolia at epoch 222464 on March 5. Once both testnets complete the process, a mainnet activation epoch will be selected.
However, Pectra follows the Dencun upgrade, bringing key improvements. It enhances Ethereum accounts, validator experience, and Layer 2 scaling. EIP-7702 presents smart account functionality for externally owned accounts (EOAs).
This enables transaction batching, gas support, alternative authentication, spending controls, and recovery mechanisms. Additionally, users can enhance EOAs with new capabilities through the board. Safety checks include chain-specific delegations, nonce-bound authorizations, and revocability to prevent misuse.
Ethereum validator enhancements: EIP-7251, EIP-7002, and EIP-6110
Three new EIPs improve validator operation. EIP-7251 increases the staked balance limit to 2048 ETH, up from 32 ETH. Automatic compounding and validator consolidation conserve network bandwidth.
EIP-7002 allows Ethereum addresses to activate validator exits. EIP-6110 eliminates queue waits for deposits, reducing processing time to 13 minutes instead of nine hours.
Moreover, EIP-7691 boosts Ethereum’s storage for blobs by 50%. Blobs, in Dencun, help to facilitate Layer 2 implementations to send data to Ethereum in compressed format. The current mainnet allows up to six blobs per block, and up to six.
Pectra increases to six on average and up to nine. Blobs flush after 4096 epochs to maintain disks in check. Bandwidth continues to be a primary limit. In response to maintaining pace with increased load, EIP-7623 incorporates block size limitations. Future scaling is to optimize data storage and verifiability.
Pectra sets the stage for enhanced Ethereum performance, including addressing scalability, security, and efficiency. Nevertheless, the features will be fine-tuned by developers on Holesky and Sepolia before their rollout on the mainnet.
