Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Anticipated to Divide into Two, Initial Phase Projected for Early 2025

Ethereum is gearing up for a significant update with its upcoming Pectra upgrade, which may involve being divided into two separate hard forks due to its intricate nature. Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation’s protocol support lead, disclosed this development on September 12.

Christine Kim, a researcher at Galaxy Digital, elaborated on X on September 13, explaining that the decision to potentially split the upgrade into two parts is driven by the extensive scope of updates planned for Pectra. The upgrade is expected to incorporate over 20 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), with six additional updates currently under review. The initial phase of the upgrade could roll out as early as February next year, followed by the second phase in the latter half of the year.

The first phase is set to encompass all components from devnet 3, including the highly anticipated EIP 7702, championed by Vitalik Buterin. This EIP aims to empower Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to function as smart contract wallets, enhancing security and user experience during transactions. Other upgrades in the first phase include EIP 7251 and EIP 6110, which focus on enabling validator deposits on-chain.

In the second phase, the focus will be on implementing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Object Format (EOF) and PeerDAS. EOF introduces an opt-in container system to optimize EVM code, marking a significant advancement for Ethereum. PeerDAS, a data availability sampling solution, utilizes Ethereum’s peer-to-peer components to enhance data distribution and scalability, fortifying the network’s overall resilience.

Kim highlighted that if Pectra 1 is launched in early 2025 and Pectra 2 follows later that year, developers may revisit EIPs that were initially rejected for the first upgrade, potentially leading to scope creep. The complexity of the upgrade and the desire to incorporate more features make a split into two upgrades highly probable.

Developers are set to make a decision next Thursday during the All Core Devs call on whether to proceed with splitting Pectra into two upgrades, considering the intricacies involved in the upgrade process and the desire to introduce additional functionalities.