Ethereum’s Next Upgrade, ‘Pectra,’ Could Include Relief for Institutional Stakers, Wallet UX Improvements

Developers have shared that the upcoming version “Pectra” is not yet fully developed, but they plan to release it even as they continue working on the next update for the chain.

“According to Tim Beiko, protocol support lead at the Ethereum Foundation, who spoke with CoinDesk on The Protocol podcast, the goal for Pectra is to identify several small achievements that can be obtained relatively soon as part of the prototyping process for larger projects.”

During the regular bi-weekly call for Ethereum’s main developers on Thursdays (referred to as the Etheruem All Core Developers call), there were indications that Pectra may adopt Ethereum Improvement Proposal 3074. This proposal, which includes a suggested set of code modifications, aims to enhance the user experience (UX) of Ethereum wallets significantly. More precisely, it enables users to group transactions together and approve them in one go.

Based on Dune Analytics’ findings, approximately 1 million validators are actively participating in the Ethereum network, resulting in apprehensions regarding increased latency. In an attempt to alleviate this issue, developers have been exploring methods to decelerate the influx of new validators and reduce potential congestion. EIP 2751 is proposed as a solution that aims to lessen the operational burden for larger stakers, merge the number of validators on the blockchain, and enable staking service providers to allocate fewer resources toward staking and validation.

The name “Pectra” is derived from two separate improvements taking place on different levels of the blockchain. Specifically, the execution level, responsible for enforcing protocol rules, will experience the “Prague” update, while the consensus layer, tasked with validating blocks, will undergo the “Electra” upgrade.

Ethereum developers have a knack for creating catchy names for their upgrades, such as “Dencun” which combines Deneb and Cancun from previous upgrades. The naming convention for Ethereum’s execution layer follows the cities where Devcon conferences have been held. On the other hand, the consensus layer names are derived from stars in alphabetical order.

Additionally, there are other proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) worth examining:

After Pectra, the upcoming enhancement will introduce “verkle trees” – a novel data storage system for Ethereum nodes, capable of handling extensive data volumes.

Beiko indicated that developers plan to release Pectra towards the end of 2024 or early 2025. He explained, “This update will be relatively minor because it enables us to simultaneously develop two branches. Our current focus is on Verkle trees and the transition related to this.” However, he added that the transition process will take over a year, so in the interim, they have the opportunity to work on other smaller projects.

Read more: Ethereum Finalizes ‘Dencun’ Upgrade, in Landmark Move to Reduce Data Fees