As SEI gains momentum through DeFi growth and user activity, SUI struggles with technical weakness and market pressure.
What Is Pectra and Why It Matters for Ethereum
Pectra is Ethereum’s third major network upgrade following The Merge in 2022, which transitioned the blockchain from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. Proposed in November 2023, Pectra builds on the foundation set by the Dencun update from March 2024. After delays and testing phases, Pectra was officially activated on May 7, 2025.
The main goal of Pectra is to improve Ethereum’s scalability, security, and flexibility by combining two planned upgrades — Prague and Electra — into one comprehensive release.
What Improvements Does Pectra Bring?
Pectra introduces several key technological upgrades. One of the most notable is account abstraction, which allows users to pay transaction fees with tokens like USDC or DAI instead of ETH. This makes Ethereum more user-friendly and accessible to a wider audience. Additionally, smart contracts become more efficient, and user wallets more flexible.
In terms of staking, the maximum validator limit has increased from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH. This simplifies validator operations for larger network participants. The upgrade also introduces more flexible staking withdrawal options.
What’s Under the Hood
On the technical side, Pectra includes PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling) — a mechanism that enables nodes to verify transaction data without storing it in full. This enhances Ethereum’s scalability and reduces network load. Another major improvement is the implementation of Verkle trees — a more efficient data structure than traditional Merkle trees, significantly reducing memory requirements for validators.
When Was Pectra Activated?
Pectra was deployed via hard fork on May 7, 2025, at 6:05 AM ET (1:05 PM Bulgarian time), reaching finality 13 minutes later. However, the rollout wasn’t smooth. In February 2025, Pectra was launched on the Holesky testnet but failed to achieve finality. A shadow fork and a dedicated testnet called Hoodi were later created to complete further testing and preparation successfully.
How Pectra Affects Ethereum Users
For users, Pectra brings several enhancements: transaction batching (combining multiple transactions into one), new types of wallets, options for social recovery of lost keys, and support for multisig wallets, increasing transaction security.
A particularly useful feature is third-party fee sponsorship, allowing users to make transactions with zero gas fees in some cases.
Which EIPs Are Included in Pectra?
Pectra includes several important Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), such as:
- EIP-7251: increases validator stake limit to 2048 ETH
- EIP-7002: introduces flexible staking withdrawals
- EIP-7702: allows regular accounts to temporarily act as smart contracts
- EIP-7742: doubles blob transaction capacity for Layer-2 scalability
- EIP-2537, 2935, and 6110: add cryptographic and structural enhancements
What Comes After Pectra?
Pectra is a major step in Ethereum’s long-term development roadmap. It prepares the network for upcoming upgrades such as Fusaka, expected in Q3 or Q4 of 2025. Fusaka is already stirring debate, especially regarding the proposed EVM Object Format (EOF), which has been temporarily withdrawn.
Vitalik Buterin emphasized the need for Ethereum to remain economically sustainable as Layer-2 adoption increases. He urged that L2 solutions contribute to ETH value through fee burning or staking participation. Buterin also called for stronger cross-chain interoperability and enhanced security, describing the current phase as a “war mode” in Ethereum’s evolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to the most common questions below.
Pectra is a major Ethereum upgrade that combines Prague and Electra updates, enhancing scalability, security, and wallet flexibility.
It raises the validator staking cap to 2048 ETH and allows more flexible withdrawals, simplifying validator operations.
Ethereum’s next upgrade is Fusaka, expected in late 2025, which will focus on EVM structure, security, and economic sustainability.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, legal or investment advice. Crypto-assets are highly volatile, so only invest funds that you are willing to lose and use your own research and risk management.
