Share this article
Ethereum Developers Finally Schedule ‘Pectra’ Upgrade
Pectra is a "hard fork" of Ethereum encompassing an array of wallet, staking, and efficiency improvements.
Updated Jan 17, 2025, 4:50 p.m. Published Jan 17, 2025, 4:49 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Ethereum's developers have finally delivered a timeline for the chain's next big upgrade, Pectra, which promises to introduce an array of speed and efficiency improvements to the second-largest blockchain. At a developer meeting held virtually on Thursday, Ethereum's core team set the upgrade's target release date for March 2025.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Pectra combines together eight major upgrades, or "Ethereum improvement proposals" (EIPs), into one package.
Among the most anticipated upgrades is EIP-7702, aimed at improving the user-experience of wallets. The upgrade, which was reportedly sketched out by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a mere 22 minutes, enables user wallets to be programmed like smart contracts. It's part of a broader strategy to bring account abstraction to Ethereum — a series of features that make setting up and using wallets a lot less clunky.
Another highly-anticipated upgrade, EIP-7251, increases the maximum amount validators can stake from 32 to 2,048 ETH. The change addresses a massive nuisance faced by the validators who stake ETH to keep the chain running today: Those who want to invest more than 32 ETH with the network must split their stake between dozens — or sometimes, hundreds — of separate nodes. This isn't just burdensome. It has also resulted in weeks-long lines for setting up new nodes.
Pectra was originally on track to be Ethereum’s biggest hard fork to date, and it's the first major improvement to the chain since 2024's Dencun upgrade. A blockchain hard fork is a particularly major kind of software upgrade that, in essence, moves a network over to an entirely new chain.
While still significant, the upgrades included in Pectra are stripped-down from some earlier plans. Developers decided in September that earlier plans for Pectra were too ambitious, and they agreed to split the original package into two.
Developers plan to test Pectra on Ethereum's Sepolia and Holesky test networks throughout February. If all goes well, developers will proceed to bring Pectra to mainnet in early or mid-March.
Read more: Ethereum Developers Confirm Plan to Split 'Pectra' Upgrade In Two
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante
The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.
What to know:
- Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
- Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
- fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.
Top Stories
