Ethereum developers are considering dividing the much-awaited Pectra upgrade into two stages. This upgrade aims to boost the network’s efficiency and scalability. The first phase might roll out in early 2025 if all goes as planned. During Ethereum’s execution layer meeting, a developer emphasized the general agreement: the goal is to ship Pectra One as quickly as possible, ideally by early next year.
An Ethereum Foundation researcher, Ansgar Dietrichs, expressed concern that delaying or splitting the upgrade could be a setback. While splitting it into two parts was considered a safer option, as smaller updates aim to carry less risk, there’s still a push to get it done as quickly as possible.
Pectra upgrade: Ethereum next big move
The Ethereum Pectra upgrade combines two major improvements: the Prague upgrade, which enhances how transactions and smart contracts are processed, and the Electra upgrade, which strengthens the system that ensures the network reaches agreement on the state of the blockchain.
Galaxy crypto researcher Christine Kim believes there’s a strong chance of a network split because the Pectra fork is complex, and developers want to add even more features to the upgrade. Developers will decide on this during the next Ethereum All Core Developers (ACD) meeting on Sept. 19. Kim had previously said in June that the Pectra upgrade was shaping up to be one of the biggest, possibly the largest, in Ethereum’s history.
Ethereum educator Sassal shared a similar view in an X post, stating, “Pectra, the upcoming Ethereum network upgrade, looks like it will be the most significant in the platform’s history.” In Apr. 2024, the Ethereum community approved Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 for the next update. This proposal will allow regular crypto wallets to work like smart contracts, expanding their capabilities.
EIP-3074 adds smart contract features to regular wallets like MetaMask. This means users can bundle multiple transactions into one, so they only need to sign once. Moreover, this enables sponsored transactions, where one wallet can cover the costs of another wallet, similar to the account abstraction introduced in ERC-4337.
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