- Pectra upgrade set for Holesky testnet on February 24, with mainnet deployment by April 8.
- Developers debate freezing Fusaka’s scope, with concerns over premature EOF inclusion.
- Pectra’s Devnet 6 shows near-perfect validator participation, signaling a smooth rollout.
Ethereum Foundation (EF)’s Protocol Support Lead, Tim Beiko, briefly outlined significant notes in the recent bi-weekly Zoom call. According to the updates made by the developers, the Pectra upgrade is set to go live in the Holesky testnet on February 24. Following the testnet is Sepolia, scheduled for March 5. If both rollouts are successful, Ethereum’s mainnet will receive this update to its code or protocol before April 8.
Deployment and Coordination Efforts
Beiko explained his responsibilities to the development teams. He intends to seek people to take part in deploying Pectra system contracts on both testnets. This will allow the upgrade to progress at its pace before the actual deployment in the main network is conducted. Fusaka was also under consideration as the next generation after Pectra and was also on the icon development team. According to Beiko, the project should freeze Fusaka after the launch of Pectra on the mainnet.
Some developers were against the idea of this proposition. The Geth development team consequently said that the scope of Fusaka should not be defined too early. Their concern is around incorporating the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EOF). This aims to enhance the structure of smart contracts and how they are implemented on Ethereum. Some developers advocated deferring EOF’s implementation in the next update.
Concerns Over EOF Integration
Concerning Fusaka’s scope, Lightclient, a partner of Geth developer, stated that the decision on its definition may still be premature. He noted that Ethereum’s priorities may change over the next two years, which could delay key improvements such as EOF for several years. Some issues that raised concerns among developers are how EOF would coexist with Ethereum’s virtual machine and zero-knowledge roll-up solutions (zkEVMs).
However, given the above challenges, Ethereum’s developers remain optimistic about Pectra. An EF Development and Operations Engineer, Parithosh Jayanthi, had a positive experience with Pectra’s Devnet 6. The response rate of validators has remained very high, close to 100 percent in most studies.
Related: Ethereum Foundation Moves 45,000 ETH into DeFi Platforms
Finalization of Pectra Upgrade
This eventually led Beiko to request authors of Pectra-related EIPs transition their proposals to the “last call” on GitHub. This is the final process before the release and deployment on Ethereum’s main network. Furthermore, Beiko advocated for finalizing other upgrades once the previous one was live.
The upgrade of the Fusaka project is still yet to be realized. Work on the finalization of the Fusaka conception also has the proposed timeline. The EIPs should be submitted by March 13, while client teams will be expected to revise them by March 27th. Nevertheless, there are ongoing debates about Ethereum’s development and its growth proceeds.
