Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade passes audit, remains on track for launch

According to the foundation, all significant issues identified during the review have been resolved. The primary objective of the audit was to assess potential vulnerabilities within the contracts and ensure that the contract logic aligns with the intended functions outlined in the Ethereum Improvement Proposals.

The Pectra upgrade, which consolidates 11 EIPs, was deployed on the Holesky testnet on Feb. 24, but it did not finalize within the expected time frame. The key EIP within the upgrade is EIP-7702, which aims to enhance the user experience for crypto wallets by incorporating smart contract functionality, contributing to the broader goal of integrating account abstraction on Ethereum (ETH). 

Another major proposal, EIP-7251, addresses validator staking by increasing the maximum staking limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. This change is designed to alleviate the challenge of validators having to distribute stakes across multiple validators when staking more than 32 ETH.

Holesky is the first testnet to run a simulation of the Pectra upgrade. The next test is scheduled for the Sepolia testnet on March 5, though there is a possibility of delays. According to Galaxy’s Christine Kim, Ethereum developers may postpone the Sepolia test depending on the scale of issues encountered in the Holesky test. However, since the Pectra contract audit confirmed that all significant issues have been resolved, the upgrade appears to remain on track.

The Pectra mainnet deployment is currently scheduled for April 8.