Ethereum Pectra Upgrade: Redefining Network Interaction and Scalability

The Ethereum network successfully activated the highly anticipated Pectra upgrade on May 7, marking another significant development milestone following last year's Dencun fork. The upgrade officially took effect at 6:05 AM Eastern Time and completed its final confirmation in just 10 minutes.

The Pectra upgrade introduces several significant changes, the most notable of which is EIP-7702. This proposal redefines the interaction between externally owned accounts (EOA) and smart contracts, allowing regular user wallets to execute contract logic while keeping their addresses unchanged for the first time. This lays the foundation for building smarter and more flexible user accounts and is seen as a key step towards achieving comprehensive account abstraction.

In addition, EIP-7251 adjusted the validator model, increasing the staking limit for each validator from 32 Ether to 2,048 Ether. This change allows large stakers to more effectively integrate capital, optimize protocol operational efficiency, and improve the reward distribution mechanism. At the same time, EIP-7691 increased the number of Blob data blocks per block from 3 to 6, significantly enhancing Layer 2's data processing capacity and reducing the cost of Rollup transactions.

However, the Pectra upgrade has also brought new challenges. Experts have pointed out that with the implementation of the upgrade, network bandwidth has become a new bottleneck for Ethereum. Especially considering that Blob data blocks need to be propagated in a peer-to-peer network, whether Ethereum can efficiently and predictably transmit data will directly affect its scalability. As the size of Blob data blocks continues to expand, merely increasing average bandwidth is no longer sufficient; reducing the variability of data propagation is equally crucial.

Security experts are also concerned about the far-reaching impacts that EIP-7702 may bring. This upgrade breaks the long-held assumption that "EOA cannot execute contract code." Therefore, smart contracts that rely on the old logic for reentrancy protection or flash loan protection may face new risks as a result. EOA can now execute logic, which introduces a whole new vector of risk for contracts that did not anticipate this feature.

To address these potential risks, developers are advised to update their codebases as soon as possible to avoid continuing to treat EOA as passive accounts. Instead, industry-standard reentrancy protection measures and stricter logical constraints should be adopted to reduce potential attack risks.

Despite these challenges, the Pectra upgrade is widely regarded as an important milestone in Ethereum's progress toward the next phase of development. It not only redefines how the network interacts but also lays the groundwork for future scalability. As the upgrade is further implemented, how the Ethereum ecosystem responds to these new changes, and how it balances innovation with security, will become a focal point of close attention for the entire industry.