Ethereum is the leading smart contract platform and the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. This week, the network reached a significant milestone with the activation of a hard fork called Pectra.
This is what Ethereum’s official X account posted on May 7th.
Pectra is live on Ethereum mainnet!
– Smart account wallet UX features now active
– L2 scaling data storage blobs increased by 2x
– Validator UX improvements liveCommunity members will continue to monitor for any issues over the next 24 hours.
— Ethereum.org (@ethereum) May 7, 2025
Ethereum is developed by a global community, just like Bitcoin. When developers introduce new features, an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) is created, which the community then implements. New features are often bundled into a larger build that includes multiple EIPs. Such updates are typically seen every 1-2 years.
Pectra is Ethereum’s latest software update. Its name comes from the words Prague and Electra. Prague is a symbolically important city for the Ethereum community, and Electra is a star. Pectra is Ethereum’s most significant upgrade, measured by the number of EIPs. It includes no less than 11 different updates. Like other Ethereum updates, Pectra is a hard fork.
The previous Ethereum update, Dencun, was completed in spring 2024. The next update is Fusaka, which is expected to be activated in approximately a year.
Let’s examine the new features Ethereum is introducing with the Pectra update. The three most significant updates (EIPs) are EIP-7702, EIP-7251, and EIP-7691.
Table of Contents
EIP-7702
The EIP-7702 affects every user on the Ethereum network. It temporarily allows “a regular Ethereum user account”, or EOA (Externally Owned Account), to act like a smart contract. Until now, an EOA could not execute any logic—it could only sign transactions.
The new update enables many practical implementations. It allows users to batch multiple transactions and confirm numerous actions with a single click. In the future, transaction fees on the Ethereum network can also be paid with tokens other than Ether.
EIP-7702 also enables sponsored transactions. For example, a wallet software could entice users to pay for their first 100 transactions. In the future, the update will also allow biometric authentication of Ethereum accounts and social recovery.
EIP-7251
EIP-7251 is a significant update to validators on the Ethereum network. It is also known as “maxeb” or maximum effective balance.
Ethereum is a proof-of-stake consensus system, wherein each validator must stake 32 Ether (ETH). However, 32 ETH is also the maximum, forcing larger validators to split their stakes into 32 ETH-sized chunks.
With the EIP-7251 update, a single validator can stake up to 2048 ETH, 64 times more than before. This eliminates the need for large validators to run dozens of nodes, reducing hardware requirements and network load.
The update has naturally sparked debate regarding the network’s decentralization. According to the Ethereum Foundation, the impact is minimal in practice, and the benefits of the update significantly outweigh its potential risks.
EIP-7691
The EIP-7691 update pertains to Layer 2 solutions, which have been instrumental in scaling the Ethereum network in recent years. Layer 2s have become so popular that some Ethereum fans have already argued that they are eroding the popularity of the base layer.
Layer 2s link to Ethereum by storing transaction data regularly on the Ethereum blockchain. This is accomplished by using blobs that contain transaction data from one or more L2s. However, one Ethereum block can only contain a limited number of blobs.
EIP-7691 increases the maximum number of blobs in a single Ethereum block.
EIP-7691 is now live with the Pectra upgrade, increasing the target from 3 to 6 blobs per block.
Congrats @nero_eth, @adietrichs , @Savid, @samcmAU and others that pushed this through!🫡
The first 9-blob blocks have already landed on mainnet! ✨ pic.twitter.com/fcfPe2cnC5— 0xRob 🛡️ (@rob_0x) May 7, 2025
For the past six months, the demand for blobs has exceeded the limits, resulting in a bottleneck that increases the costs of Layer 2 transactions. EIP-7691 can, therefore, be seen as a scaling solution for Ethereum Layer 2s.
No significant price changes
The Pectra update did not significantly impact Ethereum’s price at the time of its release, as has been seen with previous updates. Updates of this size have been known in the market for a long time, so their potential impact has already been factored into the market’s pricing.
However, Ethereum’s price increased significantly the day after the Pectra update. The entire crypto market was on the rise at the time, so the increase was likely due to general investor sentiment rather than the Pectra update. It is possible that Pectra provided Ethereum with an additional boost compared to competing cryptocurrencies.
The Pectra update alone won’t change investors’ minds about Ethereum. However, it is essential to Ethereum’s final version and long-term goals. Next, investors will focus on the Fusaka update and the scaling of Ethereum’s mainnet (Layer 1).
We’d also like to extend our appreciation to the Ethereum developers.
It should not be lost how impressive it is for Ethereum to upgrade the entire network without a hiccup.
This is already hard for centralized systems to do, it's magnitudes harder for a decentralized network to pull off.
It's like upgrading an airplane's engines mid flight.
— cygaar (@0xCygaar) May 7, 2025
Ethereum has released several significant updates in recent years without any issues. Preparing for and flawlessly implementing such updates requires extensive coordination and collaboration among the global development team.