Ethereum Developers To Ship Electra Hardfork On Testnet In Weeks

Ethereum developers are working to roll out the next consensus layer-focused hard fork dubbed Electra in the coming weeks.

Major Changes To Watch Out for Ethereum Electra Upgrade

During the recently held All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) bi-weekly meeting spearheaded by Ethereum Foundation (EF) Researcher Alex Stokes, some subjects were discussed including Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and Electra upgrade. These developers have been busy building out the Electra hardfork with four initial EIPs.

From their plans, the Electra specification which will be based on these four EIPS would be ready for testnet launch by the end of April. The first EIP of interest is 6110 which will supply validator deposits on chain. It would “improve Ethereum’s security and stability by changing the way that the network processes its validators’ deposits,” per a blog post.  

There is also EIP 7002 that will offer triggerable exits to the execution layer (EL). Teku developer Mikhail Kalinin is considering how to make minor adjustments to this EIP that will equally trigger a change in Engine API. 

EIP 7251 will increase the max effective balance (maxEB) of validators to up to 2048 ETH. However, Lighthouse developer “ethDreamer” thinks there are two questions linked to this EIP that need to be answered. The developer wants to know if custom ceilings for partial withdrawals for validators with an effective balance greater than 32 ETH be included. 

The second is whether consolidation of validators as a CL or EL-initiated operation should be enabled. Noteworthy, there were initial considerations to design the feature as a CL or Beacon Chain operation but with the feedback from the Lido team, it is perceived that EL is a better alternative. The Lido team explained that the CL strategy may break certain “accounting” operations in their smart contracts.

No official answers have been provided to the questions as Ethereum developers are still going to dedicate a breakout meeting to discuss them.

ETH Blockchain Welcomes More Upgrades

There are speculations that the implementation of EIP 7002 and 7251 in the same upgrade will trigger some complexities. 

Therefore, Kalinin is actively seeking means to mitigate these potential complexities. EIP 7549 is the last implementation in the Electra hardfork. Its function will surround moving the committee index outside attestation. Ultimately, the Electra hardfork is focused on improving Ethereum’s performance, security, and usability.

Other features and amendments that the Ethereum blockchain has welcomed in the last few weeks include the Dencun Upgrade which helped reduce the gas fees on Layer-2 protocols. Additionally, the blockchain also welcomed the COTI Network’s V2 whitepaper. 

The launch of this whitepaper is focused on boosting confidentiality on the Ethereum network.