Ethereum Developers Agree on Pectra Upgrade Launch Timeline

On January 16, Ethereum developers had the 203rd All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call with the Pectra upgrade in focus. At the meeting, the ETH developers finalized the timeline for the upgrade launch following months of active deliberations. A Galaxy Research executive, Christine Kim, shared the call summary with the community.

Ethereum Pectra Upgrade: When Launch?

The developers agreed to launch the upgrade early to mid-March. They also agreed on a new set of schedules, including January 20 or 30 for the next ACDE calls. At this meeting, the block number for the upgrade and the exact date and time will be agreed upon. 

The developers must decide on the new client releases for the Pectra upgrade by February 3. The Sepolia Fork will occur on February 12, and Holesky will follow seven days later. As noted, the mainnet fork will come by early to mid-March. However, this depends on whether nothing derails the plan.

the proposed schedule is:
jan 23 or jan 30, on next few acd calls finalize block number, exact date/time, for upgrades
feb 3, publish new client releases for the upgrade by this date
~feb 12, sepolia fork
~feb 19, holesky fork
early to mid march, mainnet fork

— Christine Kim (@christine_dkim) January 16, 2025

As Christine Kim highlighted, Ethereum developers are not planning to launch another devnet for the upgrade. This is why they are improvising with a shadow fork of Sepolia and/or Holesky testnets. Recall the developers launched the Mekong testnet last year for the pectra upgrade.

Overall, she said bugs in code might shift the timeline considerably. However, she noted that the odds of a March launch remain high after today’s call.

What is Special About Pectra?

It is worth noting that this upgrade is the biggest after the Dencun Upgrade that lowered fees on Layer-2 protocols. The Pectra upgrade complements this enhancement with scalability and security. Once launched, it will introduce innovative features that optimize transaction speeds.

With new features like account abstraction and EVM Object Format (EOF) enhancements in EIP-7692, the upgrade will benefit users and developers alike.

After Pectra, Coingape highlighted that the Fusaka upgrade is next for the ETH developers. However, the timeline of the schedule for this next upgrade remains unclear at this time.

Aiding the ETH L2 Ecosystem

The ongoing series of upgrades in the Ethereum ecosystem is designed to enhance Layer-2 scaling solutions. Notably, these L2 protocols welcome more innovations than the Ethereum blockchain, so they may be the biggest beneficiaries of these upgrades.

As reported earlier, Tether has launched USDT0, its new stablecoin on Ink, the L2 solution launched by Kraken. This next wave of innovations might benefit more from the enhanced developer experience that Pectra and Fusaka will introduce in the coming months.