Ethereum developers are proceeding with plans for the blockchain’s next upgrade, dubbed “Pectra,” following the successful Dencun upgrade. While the contents of Pectra have yet to be finalized, developers aim to deliver it while simultaneously working on a more significant code change for the subsequent upgrade.
According to Tim Beiko, protocol support lead at the Ethereum Foundation, “The idea with Pectra is to try and find a bunch of small wins that we can get relatively quickly while we prototype the larger stuff.”
One of the main changes likely to be included in Pectra is Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074, which aims to improve the user experience of Ethereum wallets by allowing users to batch transactions and sign off on them simultaneously.
Another significant change under consideration is EIP 7251, which proposes lifting the staking limit for validators from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH – a 64-fold increase. This would enable large staking providers to consolidate their validators while avoiding the need to create new validators for every additional 32 ETH staked constantly.
The name “Pectra” is a portmanteau of two simultaneous upgrades happening on different layers of the blockchain: the “Prague” upgrade for the execution layer and the “Electra” upgrade for the consensus layer.
Developers aim to release Pectra by late 2024 or early 2025, allowing them to work on the more significant ‘Verkle trees’ transition in parallel. The upgrade is expected to be relatively small, enabling developers to focus on larger improvements while delivering incremental enhancements.
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