Ethereum Developers Set March Schedule for Pectra Upgrade

GhSo...taPv

17 Jan 2025

Ethereum developers aim to deploy the Pectra upgrade in March 2025 after completing testing on the testnet a month earlier.

During the discussion called "Execution Layer Meeting 203" led by Tim Beiko on January 16, 2025, the Ethereum team discussed the upcoming Pectra upgrade. Accordingly, the developers aim to deploy Pectra to the mainnet in March 2025.

However, to ensure a smooth transition to mainnet, the Ethereum team will release new client software updates and hard forks that will be tested on the Sepolia and Holesky testnets in February. An interim testnet called Mekong, which will be launched in November 2024, will also be used to test key features for Pectra. If these testnets go well, the mainnet rollout will be in March.

Pectra Devnet5, a dedicated developer testnet created to test the Pectra upgrade, is now live.

Following the successful deployment of the Dencun upgrade on Ethereum with the important EIP-4844 proposal that reduced network gas fees by a factor of ten in Q1 2024, Pectra is the next major step for the world's second-largest smart contract blockchain, aiming to improve speed, scalability, and user and developer experience.

Originally scheduled for late 2024, Pectra has been delayed due to the significant expansion of the scope of the upgrade.

Unlike Dencun, the Pectra upgrade will be split into two parts with two separate names to be deployed in two phases, starting from 2025, to reduce potential technical risks:

Pectra - Part 1 (first half of 2025): Includes upgrades such as EIP-7251 (increased staking limit) and EIP-7702 (upgrade of EIP-3074 to improve user wallet experience), while improving the time required for validators to deposit and withdraw.

Fusaka - Part 2 (expected in 2026): Integrates major technical improvements such as EVM Object Format (EOF) and PeerDAS, enhancing network performance and security.

Through Pectra, Ethereum will bring many features to improve user experience, move towards the vision of Account Abstraction and increase the value of ETH tokens held on the network.