Pectra Upgrade has finally entered the testing phase, slated for February 24.
If this upgrade is successful, Pectra is on track to meet its April launch timeline.
Crypto proponents see Ethereum price jumping above $4,000 after the launch.
Depending on the outcome of specific tests, s Pectra Upgrade is expected to go live on the mainnet by April. On this premise, the beta testing phase may kick off this month, providing ample time for the development team to fix any shortcomings in the upgrade. Pectra will come as the Ethereum network’s first upgrade in the last 11 months.
Timeline For Pectra’s Official Launch
In light of its potential launch, the upgrade will contain more improvements. Still, there will be a keen interest in wallets and validators, as discussed during Ethereum’s core builders’ bi-weekly “All Core Developers” call.
The will commence on February 24 on the Holesky testnet. Afterward, it will undergo a follow-up test on Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet by March 5.
These tests are the determinants of Pectra’s official launch. Once they are successful, Ethereum core builders will convene a day after the last test to discuss the official launch date of the upgrade. Tim Beiko, the protocol support lead at the Ethereum Foundation, took to X to share his optimism about having the upgrade hit the mainnet by early April.
Pectra is going live 🥳
Holesky will fork at slot 3710976 (Mon, Feb 24 at 21:55:12 UTC)
Sepolia will fork at slot 7118848 (Wed, Mar 5 at 07:29:36 UTC)
Assuming Sepolia goes smoothly, we’ll pick the mainnet slot on the March 6 ACD call 📅
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 6, 2025
Pectra is going live 🥳
Holesky will fork at slot 3710976 (Mon, Feb 24 at 21:55:12 UTC) Sepolia will fork at slot 7118848 (Wed, Mar 5 at 07:29:36 UTC)
Assuming Sepolia goes smoothly, we’ll pick the mainnet slot on the March 6 ACD call 📅
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko)
Pectra’s launch consists of two phases. The first phase, which is about to happen, will introduce user experience improvements and validator enhancements. Phase two, planned for 2026, will implement technical upgrades including the Ethereum Virtual Machine Object Format (EOF) and new scalability solutions.
Understanding the Ethereum Pectra Upgrade
Pectra, an integration of the Prague and Electra upgrade, marks a transformative upgrade with the potential to enhance Ethereum’s scalability, user experience, and staking mechanisms.
Once it pulls through, it would mark a new chapter in Ethereum’s evolution. This is due to accompanying Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), designed to tackle existing challenges while optimizing the network’s performance.
There are about eight significant improvements to the network, including EIP-7702, which is supposed to improve the user experience of crypto wallets. Another interesting new feature on the Pectra hard fork is the “” feature, which would be a part of the EIP 4074 upgrade. With this, users no longer need to worry about losing their private keys.
Apart from simplified user interactions, other key features designed to come with Pectra are account abstraction support, an increase in validators’ stake limit, and updated staking mechanisms.
The validator’s stake limit increase from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH comes under the EIP-7251. This is a strategy to ensure that large validators consolidate their node operation.
Could ETH Price Hit $4,100 Post-Pectra?
Ethereum was trading at $2,692.01 at press time, following a 2.99% price dip. This is a significant drop from the coin’s all-time high of over $4,700.
The broader crypto market anticipated that ETH would tilt towards this price level with the July 2024 launch of (ETFs). Sadly, this was not the case, as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap hardly moved past the $4,000 mark.
However, there is anticipation in the market that the launch of Pectra may serve as the propeller for the ETH price rally. While some market observers are optimistic that the price will hit $4,100, others are more bullish, looking forward to double the current ETH price valuation.