Ethereum Developers Target May 7 for Pectra Mainnet Launch
The Ethereum Pectra upgrade, including 11 major protocol improvements, is expected to launch on the mainnet on May 7, 2025.
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In a recent Consensus Layer Meeting, Ethereum developers discussed the current progress towards the Pectra upgrade and the launch timeline.
Pectra – Prague/Electra hardfork will be the biggest upgrade for Ethereum since the Dencun fork, which reduced transaction costs and improved the network’s overall efficiency.
Involving Ethereum Improvement Proposals like EIP-7702 and EIP-7251, Pectra will further enhance user and developer experience on Ethereum.
Currently, Pectra is running on the Hoodi testnet. The mainnet launch is coming later than initially expected, as it ran into testnet issues on Holesky and Sepolia, requiring more time from developers to test the features. Moving forward, developers need to conduct a new series of tests to address bugs that came up.
Ethereum developers confirmed May 7 as the target date for the Pectra mainnet launch, though delays remain possible. Summing up the latest discussions, researcher Alex Stokes (ralexstokes) posted the agreed timeline on his X account.
Client releases are scheduled for April 21, 2025, providing software updates for node operators, validators, and developers. For general Ethereum users, this update doesn’t require any steps: wallet and dApp providers will make the updates.
The Pectra mainnet blog will come by April 23, 2025, to provide official documentation, including the exact technical parameters for the Pectra activation, upgrade guides, and any last-minute updates.
If everything goes as planned, Pectra will launch on May 7.
Related: What Is Pectra? Ethereum’s Next Upgrade
What’s Next After the Ethereum Pectra Launch
Pectra will change how users, developers, and validators interact with Ethereum. Among the most anticipated improvements is account abstraction, an integration into crypto wallets to provide social recovery, batch transactions, and other options.
Another update is EIP-7251, which will allow validators to stake up to 2,048 ETH, a significant increase from the current 32 ETH limit.
Once the Pectra mainnet is finalized, Ethereum developers will prepare to launch Fusaka – Fulu-Osaka – to scale the protocol further and enhance the security of Layer 2s.
Fusaka is expected to launch in Q3 2025. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared new suggestions for its technical architecture on March 29.
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