Ethereum developers aim for Pectra mainnet upgrade in March

Ethereum developers aim to launch the network’s Pectra upgrade in March 2025, with specific milestones leading up to this mainnet fork.

New client releases for the upgrade and hard forks on Ethereum test networks Sepolia and Holesky are expected by February in coordination with client software teams, according to a core developer call on Thursday. If the forks on the testnets go as planned, the mainnet rollout will follow the next month.

While initially planned for late 2024, the scope of the upgrade expanded significantly, leading to a delay.

The Pectra upgrade will incorporate several Ethereum Improvement Proposals — focused on improving user experience and network efficiency. The changes include improving user experience in crypto wallets and account abstraction , increasing the  maximum validator stake limit from 32 to 2,048 ETH, and updating deposit and exit mechanisms.

Until now, the developers have also spun up short-duration "devnets" for testing phases for individual components of the Pectra upgrade.

Developers also launched a temporary Mekong testnet in November 2024 to test key upgrades for Pectra.