Ethereum's Pectra Upgrade Explained

The Pectra upgrade marks another significant milestone on the Ethereum roadmap. Launched on 7 May 2025, it is Ethereum’s most significant upgrade since the Merger in 2022. Pectra promises a better wallet UX and staking experience with the new EIPs included. This article explains the Pectra upgrade, what is included, and how this will affect the network and users.

What is the Pectra Upgrade?

Pectra is a hard fork that was deployed on the mainnet on the 7th of May, 2025, which introduced changes to Ethereum’s execution and consensus layer. Pectra is the biggest upgrade to Ethereum since the Merge from 2022, it is the third major hard fork (upgrade) to the Ethereum blockchain.

The name “Pectra”

The name “Pectra” combines Prague (Devcon IV city) and Electra (a bright star in the Taurus constellation). The combined name indicates that both the consensus and execution layers are affected by the upgrade.  This follows the tradition of Ethereum upgrades using a simple way of naming their upgrades: a Devcon city for the execution layer, and a star name for the consensus layer.

Keywords to note

• Hard Forks: Hard forks are protocol upgrades that all Ethereum nodes must adopt to stay connected to the network. They mark points of significant change, such as introducing new features, fixing bugs, or adjusting consensus rules. When a hard fork is activated, the network splits from its previous version, and only nodes that upgrade continue on the main chain.

• EIPs: EIPs are formal documents that propose changes to the Ethereum network. They can include anything from technical upgrades and protocol optimizations to smart contract standards. Each EIP must be reviewed, tested, and accepted before it is included in an upgrade.

• Execution Layer: The Execution Layer is the part of Ethereum that processes transactions, runs smart contracts, and updates the state. It’s what most users interact with when they use dApps or send ETH. EIPs that change how wallets, gas, or contract logic behave usually affect the Execution Layer.

• Consensus Layer: ​​The Consensus Layer manages how the network agrees on the order and validity of blocks. It ensures that Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake mechanism remains secure and decentralized through validator operations and finality rules. Staking-related upgrades like raising the validator limit affect this layer.

Ethereum and Its Upgrades

Hard forks are network-wide protocol upgrades that introduce changes to the Ethereum blockchain. These upgrades indicate a significant milestone on the Ethereum roadmap, marking a move to increase scalability, optimization, and network efficiency. Ethereum's broader road map is designed around six phases - The Merge, Surge, Scourge, Verge, Purge, and Slurge.

Over the past three years, Ethereum has undergone three hard forks: The Merge, Shanghai/Capella, and Decun. The Merge in 2022 marked Ethereum’s transition from PoW (Proof-of-Work) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. With that transition, the Merge significantly reduced the energy required to secure the Ethereum network by 99.95%, moving from 112 TWh/yr (as much as the yearly consumption of the Netherlands at that time) to 0.01 TWh/yr.

Shanghai/Capella introduced staking withdrawals, allowing validators to finally unlock and withdraw their staked ETH for the first time since staking was enabled in 2020. This upgrade, split into two parts, Shanghai for the execution layer and Capella for the consensus layer, marked a critical step for Ethereum’s proof-of-stake system.

Dencun, short for Deneb/Cancun, followed in 2024 and focused on scalability and cost reduction. Its standout feature was the introduction of proto-danksharding through EIP-4844, which added a new transaction type called “blobs.” These blobs created a cheaper, temporary data layer for rollups, drastically reducing L2 fees and paving the way for full danksharding in the future.

Before Pectra, these upgrades were geared toward developers' activities and increasing technical efficiency. With Pectra, these upgrades are designed to improve the overall design and UX for everyday users. Pectra introduces features like Embedded EOAs to improve wallet functionality and EIP-7251 to increase the staking amount on Ethereum.

"Upgrades like Pectra seem technical on the surface, but under the hood, they’re making Ethereum more usable, scalable, and human-friendly" - Tian Lim, Director of Technical Program Management at Consensys.

What Changes are Included with Pectra?

Pectra upgrades introduced 11 major code changes (EIPs), the most EIPs included in a single upgrade so far. These proposals reflect three key goals:

• Improve the staking experience
• Introduce smart EOAs to improve wallet UX and move closer to account abstraction
• Update functionality and prepare the blockchain for future upgrades

The next two sections will explain the major EIPs of this upgrade and how they will change Ethereum.

EIP-7702 and Embedded Smart EOAs

Traditionally, Ethereum accounts have been split into two types:

• Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs): like MetaMask or hardware wallets, controlled by private keys.

• Contract Accounts: These are the addresses behind dApps and protocol accounts; they are smart contracts that can contain logic, permissions, and programmable features. However, they still need an EOA to initiate action.

While traditional EOAs are secure with simple designs, they don’t support programmability, batch transactions, or logic-based security. Simple tasks like swapping tokens or bridging require multiple transactions, interactions with clunky UIs, and constant manual approval.

There is also the problem of reliance on private keys; losing the private key means losing access to the wallet. That itself is a fundamental UX problem. If Ethereum hopes to onboard the next 1 billion users, navigating the wallet UX should be as simple and intuitive as possible. Mistakes like losing a private key shouldn’t risk a user’s whole portfolio.

Smart Contract Accounts (SCAs), also known as Smart wallets, are an effective solution to most of these problems. As the next iteration of wallet UX, SCAs are wallets built with logic, meaning they can support features like social recovery, session keys, or multiple valid signers. They’re a key part of Ethereum’s broader effort toward account abstraction, the idea that accounts on Ethereum should be flexible, programmable, and more user-friendly by default.

The ERC-4337 was the first major step towards Account Abstraction (AA), with the proposal introducing a standard architecture for SCAs on Ethereum. This, in turn, enabled developers to build SCAs on Ethereum. ERC-4337 further introduced features like:

• Gas sponsorship

• Fee abstraction

• Social recovery (Social log-in)

• Nonce abstraction

While this was a significant step forward, it didn’t achieve full integration into Ethereum’s protocol layer. The EIP-4337 didn’t change the protocol, so it didn’t extend these features to EOAs.

EIP-7702 enables EOAs to temporarily behave like smart contracts within a transaction. This concept, called Embedded Smart EOAs, allows a wallet to include custom logic, interact like a smart contract, and then revert back to standard EOA behavior after the transaction is complete.

Smart EOAs introduce advanced features without fully abandoning the EOA model, closing the gap between EOA and SCA. This way, 7702 extends the features that 4337 introduced, e.g., fee abstraction and gas sponsorship, available to EOAs without the need to convert to an SCA.

"Account abstraction has long been a goal for Ethereum, and EIP-7702 support provided by Pectra is a huge achievement in this regard, as it provides a flexible and safe mechanism to upgrade existing EOAs with minimal onboarding. " - Matthew Walsh, Sr Staff Software Engineer at Consensys

Improving the Ethereum Staking Experience

Three EIPs, 7251, 7002, and 6110, in the Pectra upgrade are dedicated to improving the Ethereum staking system. While not exactly designed to improve staking, EIP-7702 also affects the staking experience with the new smart EOAs.

EIP-7251 and Increasing the Staking Limit

EIP-7251 increased the staking ceiling from 32 ETH per validator to 2,048 ETH per validator, to allow large operators to consolidate stakes into fewer validators. This reduces system load and network inefficiencies caused by managing large fleets of 32-ETH validators. It also improves validator economics for node operators running at scale.

For solo stakers, this update also brings a subtle benefit: there’s no longer a need to accumulate another full 32 ETH just to spin up a new validator. Instead, stakers can top up an existing validator, making solo staking slightly more flexible and capital-efficient.

EIP-7002: Enabling Validators to Initiate Exits

Before Pectra, only the withdrawal credentials could trigger an exit. With EIP-7002, validators can initiate their own exits through an execution-layer transaction. This adds more flexibility and aligns validator control with modern operational needs.

EIP-6110: Validator’s Deposits in the Execution Layer

EIP-6110 delivers validator deposit data directly to the execution layer from the beacon chain. This simplifies how validator clients receive deposit information and helps integrate staking workflows more seamlessly across the consensus and execution layers.

EIP-7702 and Staking UX

While not directly a staking EIP, the account abstraction introduced by EIP-7702 also improves staking UX. With programmable wallets, users can automate delegation, set withdrawal conditions, or stake through modular, logic-driven flows, something not easily possible with traditional EOAs.

Other Pectra’s EIPs

• EIP-7691 doubles the number of data blobs that can be processed per block to improve data availability and lower transaction costs for L2 rollups that rely on blob storage for data availability.

• EIP-7840 introduces standardized blob schedules to support future scaling upgrades.

• EIP-7623 incentivizes the use of blobs by raising the gas cost of call data. The goal is to nudge developers towards using blobs, which are more efficient for data availability and optimizing network performance.

• EIP-7685 creates a standardized format for communication between Ethereum’s execution and consensus layers to improve future upgrade compatibility.

• EIP-7549 optimizes the consensus layer data structure by reducing the number of BLS signatures required to validate all votes in an epoch. This improves efficiency (reduced bandwidth and better performance).

• EIP-2935 extends access to older block hashes by storing recent historical block hashes (up to 8,192 from 256) directly in the blockchain state. This will make it possible to build advanced apps that require access to historical blocks and improve the use of trustless randomness on Ethereum.

• EIP-2537 adds a gas-efficient precompile that helps to verify BLS signatures more efficiently on-chain. This, in turn, reduces gas cost for operations that require BLS signatures, like staking and cross-chain bridges.

Below is a table summarizing all the EIPs, what they do, and who the network players they affect the most.

Beyond the Technicalities: How Pectra will Affect the Ethereum Network

With 11 EIPs and significant changes to the protocol, the Pectra upgrade has significantly changed the network. But what does this mean for users and validators? Let’s take a look at how the improvement from Pectra will affect the network.

What does Pectra mean For Users on Ethereum?

The biggest upgrade with Pectra is probably the improved wallet experience. With EIP-7702, the wallet can now behave like a smart contract with features like social recovery/log-in, gasless transaction (gas sponsorship), and session key. These upgrades move Ethereum closer to account abstraction, where using a wallet will feel as seamless as logging into an app, without worrying about seed phrases or juggling multiple approvals.

As an end-user, you’ll probably notice fewer approval pop-ups and more responsive apps. The Fee abstraction feature means that you can now pay gas fees with other tokens when you don’t have ETH. Gas sponsorship also enables protocols and developers to sponsor gas fees, which translates to gasless transactions for users.

Keep in mind that you’ve to become more careful with signing transactions, since it is technically possible to delegate your wallet to a malicious contract with one signature. This is not a problem since most wallets don’t support this type of malicious trick. You can read more about this here:

https://x.com/Kerberus/status/1920830471292010680?embedable=true

What does Pectra mean for Validators?

One of the major focuses of Pectra is to improve the staking experience for validators on Ethereum. First of all, EIP-7251 raises the staking ceiling so the process becomes more efficient for institutional stakers and solo stakers. The other staking EIPs (7002, 6110) will improve validator operations and enable smoother withdrawal and onboarding.

Even 7702 will improve the staking experience. With the smart EOAs, validators can enjoy transaction batching, and the fee abstraction lets validators pay fees with another token. The proposal also streamlines the staking process; stakers can now delegate staking management and compound staking rewards with a simple click.

What does Pectra mean for Developers?

For developers, EIP-7702 offers a more flexible framework for building smart account–ready applications. You can now integrate programmable wallet logic without pushing users into new wallet types or requiring ERC-4337 relayer infrastructure. Pectra also continues Ethereum’s broader shift toward future protocol improvements like Verkle trees, statelessness, and enshrined rollups.