Ethereum Pectra Network Upgrade Goes Live
Ethereum, the blockchain that pioneered the use of smart contracts, has entered a new phase with the launch of its Pectra upgrade.
The Pectra update became active on the Ethereum mainnet at the beginning of epoch 364032, which took place on May 7, 2025, around 10:00 am UTC.
The update includes three key Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs): EIP-7702, EIP-7251, and EIP-7691.
EIP-7702 enables externally owned accounts to function like smart contracts, allowing them to manage transaction fees and make payments using tokens other than Ether.
EIP-7251 raises the staking cap for validators from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, streamlining operations for major stakers.
EIP-7691 boosts the data blob count per block, enhancing layer-2 scalability and potentially bringing down transaction fees significantly.
Sergej Kunz, co-founder of decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch, commented that Pectra “introduces ‘smart account’ functionality” deeper within the protocol and “improves Ethereum’s scalability” via layer-2 mechanisms.
0xAw, the lead developer at Base’s Ethereum layer-2 DEX Alien.Base, told Cointelegraph that EIP-7702 “is a potentially great addition for Ethereum.”
According to him, account abstraction hasn't gained much popularity so far because users have had to change wallets.
He pointed out the benefits of this system, such as eliminating approval processes, avoiding the need to sign every transaction, and enabling automated actions on behalf of users, adding that developers will find these features easier to incorporate post-update.
Even though account abstraction “won’t magically result in mass adoption,” it still “does remove a significant barrier to entry for new people.” He further said:
“It enables a Web2-like UX by hiding many of the underlying scaffolding from users.”
Kunz from 1inch noted that this upgrade will pave “the way for native gasless transactions and simplified user flows.”
Ivo Georgiev, founder and CEO of smart wallet Ambire, told Cointelegraph that “there will be no more infinite ERC-20 approvals, and users won’t need native currency like ETH to pay transaction gas fees.” He also stated:
“Following this, the UX will be reworked completely, with permissions/delegations systems that let wallets give more limited abilities to apps, thus increasing their overall security — for example, you won’t need the wallet popup every time you interact with OpenSea.“
However, the changes do bring certain risks. 0xAw pointed out that “users have one more dangerous thing they could sign, which would be even more damaging than an approval to wallet drainers.”
Mike Tiutin, chief technology officer at PureFi, added to Cointelegraph that “drainers proved that users will sign ‘harmless’ messages in cloned DApps.”
He warned that the threat is now more severe:
“EIP-7702 expands that trick from one token to the whole wallet.“
Georgiev, however, took a more positive stance, expressing confidence that “there will not be a tangible increase in risk.”
He elaborated that by now, the industry has enough experience to create secure contracts, especially for a narrowly scoped feature like EIP-7702 delegation.
Artemiy Parshakov, vice president of institutions at staking service P2P.org, told Cointelegraph, “EIP-7002 makes institutional staking much easier to integrate without taking too much risk.”
He explained that staking clients had to obtain and securely store a signed message from their provider to exit staking, which previously required the provider's involvement and could only be done around 13 hours after staking began. This waiting period has now been shortened to about 13 minutes.
Another significant improvement is EIP-6110, which allows the execution-layer block to directly include information on new validator deposits, feeding it to the consensus layer. These deposits represent new participants joining Ethereum’s staking process.
In the past, consensus clients had to rely on block proposers voting on a Merkle root summarizing the deposits. Now, the execution-layer block directly supplies the list of new deposits.
This upgrade involves core changes to Ethereum’s consensus layer and comes after previous client bugs affected the Holesky and Sepolia test networks.
Despite this, Parshakov remarked that his company’s main worry remains “client bugs, but we trust that respectable teams and the Ethereum Foundation are working together to prevent it from happening on mainnet.”
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-s-pectra-network-upgrade-goes-live-today-what-to-expect
Try to invite your friends and earn together
10% of trading fees of your friends and 5% from the earnings of your friends.
