Ethereum developers have initiated the Pectra upgrade on the Holesky testnet, marking the beginning of a significant evolution in the world of blockchain technology. This upgrade brings about numerous advancements, including enhanced validator rewards, improved account abstraction, and better layer-2 scaling features, with testing underway as of 9:55 pm UTC. According to the Ethereum Foundation, Holesky will adopt Pectra at epoch 115,968, followed by Sepolia at epoch 222,464 on March 5 at 7:29 am UTC. Successful deployment on these testnets will determine when the mainnet will also be updated.
Pectra aims to advance Ethereum accounts significantly, improve layer-2 scaling, and enhance the user experience for validators. This comes on the heels of Ethereum’s previous major update, the Dencun upgrade, which led to a reduction in layer-2 transaction fees and bolstered Ethereum rollup economics. The Dencun hard fork, launched on March 13, 2024, is considered a pivotal step towards widespread adoption.
At the core of Pectra is a major push towards account abstraction, particularly with the introduction of EIP-3074. This allows externally owned accounts (EOAs) to handle batch transactions and sponsor gas payments, enabling transactions from accounts lacking Ether and supporting alternative authentication and recovery options.
Furthermore, Pectra will expand Ethereum’s blob capacity by 50%. This increase will raise the number of blobs per block from three to six, which are used by layer-2 blockchains to compress transaction data for submission to the mainnet. Consequently, this development has resulted in significantly cheaper layer-2 transactions.
An important feature of Pectra is the increase in the maximum validator balance eligible for reward accrual. The limit, currently set at 32 ETH, will be raised to 2,048 ETH, providing greater flexibility for validators.
This move comes as Ethereum developers aim to expedite the network’s roadmap, agreeing to accelerate future protocol upgrades with fewer delays, as discussed in recent Ethereum core developer meetings. This proactive approach signifies the network’s commitment to rapidly evolving in response to technological demands and user needs.
