Proposed in November 2023, the Pectra upgrade is set to roll out in March 2025, following the Dencun upgrade. This merger of the Prague and Electra upgrades promises enhanced scalability, efficiency, and user experience on the Ethereum network. Key features include account abstraction, allowing gas payments in tokens other than ETH, and improved staking options which raise validator limits significantly from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. Technical enhancements like Verkle trees and PeerDAS will optimize data management and support layer-2 scalability. The upgrade will occur in two phases, with critical improvements launched in Phase 1, including a doubling of layer-2 blob capacity and better validator operations. Phase 2 will focus on integrating advanced optimizations. However, developers have faced challenges in testing, notably with the Holesky testnet failing to finalize initially, leading to delays and ongoing testing on a new testnet named Hoodi. Despite these challenges, the Pectra upgrade is seen as a vital step toward Ethereum's longer-term vision of an efficient and decentralized network.

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