Ethereum confirms Pectra upgrade launching on 5/7: account abstraction, L2 scaling, and increased staking limits, three major improvements at once.

Ethereum's next major upgrade "Pectra" is officially finalized to be launched on the mainnet on May 7, 2025, importing three core updates, including account abstraction (EIP-7702), validator experience optimization (such as increasing the staking limit to 2048 ETH), and L2 scaling (Blob throughput multiplication), injecting new momentum into the Ethereum ecosystem. (Synopsis: Ethereum Pectra upgrade finalizes 4/30 mainnet, can it be a shot in the arm for ETH rebound? (Background added: Ethereum Pectra upgrade confirmed delayed!) The third testnet, Hooli, will go live, and the mainnet will be upgraded at the end of April at the earliest) Ethereum's most high-profile upgrade of the year "Pectra" has finally finalized its date, and is expected to officially launch on the Ethereum mainnet on May 7, 2025 at 10:05:11 (UTC), launching on epoch 364032. This upgrade follows last year's Dencun upgrade and brings significant improvements such as account abstraction, validator experience optimization, and Layer 2 scaling, injecting new momentum into the Ethereum ecosystem. Ethereum's next network upgrade, Pectra, is coming to mainnet on May 7th, at epoch 364032 Pectra introduces EIP-7702, several improvements to validator UX, a doubling of the blob count (.oO!) and many other features! More on this below pic.twitter.com/W6HWVzkPra — timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) April 23, 2025 Pectra's three core upgrade highlights According to the Foundation's blog post, the Pectra upgrade introduces several important features, covering account abstraction, Improved validator experience and increased L2 data throughput. The following are the three highlights: 1. From EOA to Smart Account: EIP-7702 Opens a New Era of Account Abstraction Pectra achieves a major breakthrough in account abstraction with EIP-7702, allowing users' externally owned accounts (EOAs) to have smart contract functions. This "hybrid account" model combines the simplicity of EOA with the programmability of contract accounts to bring the following features to wallet applications: Transaction batching: Multiple operations can be performed atomically in a single transaction, eliminating the need for separate steps such as "approval" and "exchange". Gas Fee Sponsorship: Allows third parties to pay transaction fees for scenarios where the account does not have ETH. Alternative authentication methods: Support mobile phone hardware security module (HSM) operation authorization through key (passkeys) and other technologies. Spending control: You can limit the amount of token spending for specific applications or set a daily outflow limit for wallets to improve security. Account recovery mechanism: Multiple asset protection options are available, eliminating the need to migrate to a new account. EIP-7702 works by having the EOA sign the authorization and specify a specific delegate address to execute its code in order to obtain the appropriate functionality. To ensure security, the proposal includes several protection mechanisms, including chain-specific delegates (valid only for specific chain IDs), authorization tied to a nonce (which automatically expires when a nonce is added), and revocability (EOA holders can replace or revoke a delegate at any time). 2. Optimize the validator experience: EIP-7251, EIP-7002, and EIP-6110 Pectra significantly improve the validator experience through three EIPs: EIP-7251: Increase the maximum effective balance The proposal increases the maximum number of stakes that validators can receive rewards from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH (requires the option to update the withdrawal voucher type). This allows stakers to compound rewards directly without having to stake another stake in units of 32 ETH. In addition, large operators can consolidate multiple 32 ETH certifiers, reducing network bandwidth requirements and improving overall efficiency. EIP-7002: Execution Layer Triggers Withdrawal In the past, only the authenticator's active signing key could trigger exit. Now, if an Ethereum address is set as a withdrawal credential, the address can also be forced to trigger an exit. This reduces the trust assumption in the delegation scenario, where either an individually controlled EOA or a DAO-managed smart contract can initiate an exit without trust. EIP-6110: Remove Deposit Delay This proposal eliminates the deposit delay left over from the pre-merger proof-of-work era (approximately 9 hours). At that time, the beacon chain had to wait 2048 blocks to prevent the PoW chain from reorganizing. Today, the deposit processing time has been reduced to about 13 minutes, greatly improving staking efficiency. 3. L2 expansion and upgrade: EIP-7691 doubles blob throughput Pectra doubles Ethereum's blob throughput through EIP-7691 to further support L2 scaling. Blobs are a temporary data storage mechanism introduced by the Dencun upgrade for L2 commits compressed transaction data and proofs to L1. Since its launch, Blob has reduced L1 fees for L2 by 10-100 times, significantly reducing user transaction costs. Currently, the Ethereum mainnet supports an average of 3 blobs per block, with a maximum of 6. EIP-7691 increases the mean to 6 and the maximum to 9. To balance the bandwidth pressure, Pectra also introduced EIP-7623 to limit the size of blocks in the worst case. In the future, Ethereum plans to further increase data throughput through distributed storage and data sampling, and relevant research is already underway. Technical Specifications and Startup Details The Pectra upgrade contains 11 EIPs covering several improvements to the execution and consensus layers, as detailed in EIP-7600. Other changes include: EIP-2537: BLS12-381 curve operation precompilation EIP-2935: Storing Historical Block Hashes into State EIP-7685: Generic execution layer request EIP-7840: Add blob schedules to execution layer profiles Read more: Learn about Ethereum Pectra upgrades: full resolution of EIPs Pectra has been tested on the Hoodi, Holesky, and Sepolia testnets, however, The process was not all smooth sailing, and the multiple twists and turns of the testnet made the market pay close attention to its final performance. In fact, the Pectra upgrade officially started testing as early as the end of February this year, and it was originally planned to go live on the mainnet after full verification on the Holesky and Sepolia testnets. However, these two testnets have problems one after another, resulting in a delay in the upgrade progress. To address these challenges, Ethereum core developers launched a new Hoodi testnet in mid-March, which was officially launched on March 17 with ...