Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade is slated to be one of the network’s most significant updates, and its complexity could lead to it being split into two separate hard forks.
This fact was revealed on September 12 by Tim Beiko, Protocol Support Lead at the Ethereum Foundation.
Details on Ethereum's Planned Pectra Upgrade
On September 13, Christine Kim, a researcher at Galaxy Digital, explained to X that the decision was due to the large number of updates planned for Pectra. The upgrade could include more than 20 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), with six additional updates still under review.
Kim noted that the first part of the upgrade could begin as early as February next year, with the second part following later that year.
The first phase includes all elements of devnet 3, including the highly anticipated EIP 7702, supported by Vitalik Buterin. This EIP aims to improve security and user experience during transactions by allowing Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to act as smart contract wallets . Other upgrades in the first phase include EIP 7251 and EIP 6110, which enables validator deposits on-chain.
The second phase will focus on implementing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Object Format (EOF) and PeerDAS. EOF marks a major advance for Ethereum by introducing an optional container system for optimizing EVM code.
PeerDAS is a data availability sampling solution that uses Ethereum’s peer-to-peer components to improve data distribution and scalability, while enhancing the overall resilience of the network.
Read more: Ethereum EIPs: What Are They? How Are They Implemented?
Kim noted that if Pectra 1 is released in early 2025 and Pectra 2 is released later that year, developers could revisit EIPs that were initially rejected in the first upgrade.
“This is something that developers are trying to avoid, but it would actually be a scope violation. Given the way the Pectra discussions are going, it’s not entirely out of the question that these other EIPs could be revisited after Pectra 1,” she added.
Read more: How to Buy Ethereum (ETH) and Everything You Need to Know
Meanwhile, developers will decide whether to split Pectra into two upgrades at the All Core Devs call next Thursday. Kim suggests that a split is very likely due to the complexity of the upgrade and the desire to add more features.
