Pectra Hard Fork: A Closer Look at Ethereum’s Next Big Update and Its Expected Benefits

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• Ethereum’s Pectra update set for Q1 2025 will implement 19 vital EIPs to enhance scalability, security, and UX.
• EIP-7702, proposed by Vitalik Buterin, will introduce account abstraction, simplifying transactions by allowing addresses to act as smart contracts.

Ethereum is set to deploy a substantial network upgrade known as Pectra in the first quarter of 2025. This update is a continuation of Ethereum’s sustained efforts to enhance its blockchain infrastructure, following previous updates such as Shanghai and Dencun.

Pectra will implement 19 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), addressing key areas like scalability, security, and user experience.

Pectra, the next Ethereum network upgrade, is shaping up to be the biggest in Ethereum's history!

The confirmed EIPs include:

– EIP-7702 (replaces EIP-3074/account abstraction)
– EIP-7594 / PeerDAS (huge upgrade for rollup scalability)
– EIP-7251 / MaxEB (stake more than 32…

— sassal.eth/acc 🦇🔊 (@sassal0x) June 7, 2024

The Pectra hard fork is another development in Ethereum’s roadmap, laying the groundwork for more extensive, on-chain scaling improvements. This approach is typical of Ethereum’s methodical enhancement over the years, where each upgrade builds on the past developments.

A significant element of Pectra is EIP-7702, authored by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This EIP is designed to replace EIP-3074 and introduce account abstraction, which permits user addresses to act as smart contracts during transactions. 

This capability is expected to streamline user transactions and improve interaction with the Ethereum network.

Additionally, EIP-7594, or PeerDAS, will be launched to enhance the scalability of roll-ups, which are essential for increasing transaction throughput on layer-2 solutions like Base and Arbitrum. This improvement is anticipated to facilitate a higher transaction volume and help reduce transaction costs, commonly known as gas fees.

Another critical proposal, EIP-7251 or MaxEB, will be implemented, impacting Ethereum validators by increasing the maximum effective balance per validator from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. This adjustment will offer validators more operational flexibility.

Further EIPs set for implementation include those enhancing the Ethereum Virtual Machine Object Format (EOF) and EIP-2537, which introduces cryptographic advancements to improve the security and scalability of the network.

Moreover, EIP-7549 will be integrated to increase the overall efficiency of Ethereum by reducing the overhead associated with consensus mechanisms.