Ethereum's Pectra hard fork is now live, marking its most significant upgrade since the previous major enhancements. The fork, initiated shortly after 6 am ET, enhances Ethereum's execution and consensus layers, influencing validator operations, transaction UX, and data availability. Key features introduced include smart accounts (EIP-7702), enabling users to perform batched transactions and use sponsored gas payments without needing native gas or additional wallets. Data availability scaling (EIP-7691) increases throughput by doubling blob capacity per block, potentially lowering Layer 2 fees as demand grows. Pectra also raises the maximum validator balance to 2,048 ETH, facilitating more efficient operations for institutions and enhancing staking practices. The upcoming major upgrade, tentatively set for 2026, is expected to introduce PeerDAS for rollups and further develop Ethereum's capabilities. As adoption unfolds, wallets, Layer 2s, and decentralized applications (dapps) will adapt to the new features, which could lead to one-click onboarding and improved user experiences. Observations will focus on the impact of increased data capacity on the network and the overall performance of validators.

Source šŸ”—