Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Begins Testing on Holesky

Ethereum developers are kicking off the much-anticipated Pectra upgrade on the Holesky testnet today at 9:55 PM UTC. This marks the first step toward rolling out one of Ethereum’s most significant updates, bringing improvements in validator rewards, account functionality, and scaling solutions.

Following Holesky, the upgrade will be tested on Sepolia on March 5 at 7:29 AM UTC. If both test runs go smoothly, developers will decide on a mainnet launch, likely in April.

Ethereum Speeds Up Its Roadmap

The launch of Pectra on the testnet comes after Ethereum developers recently decided to accelerate their upgrade schedule. In a February 13 All Core Devs meeting, they agreed to push out protocol changes at a faster pace.

One of the most critical topics of discussion in ACDE #205 was the scheduling of testnet forks to prepare for Pectra’s activation. Developers had confirmed that the Holesky testnet fork will take place on February 24 at Epoch 115,968, while Sepolia will fork on March 5 at Epoch 222,464.

The Network Upgrades and EIPs Relationship Graph below highlights how key Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) included in Pectra relate to past upgrades like Homestead, Spurious Dragon, Petersburg, Berlin, London, and Dencun.

Pectra’s Key Enhancements

Pectra follows the Dencun upgrade, which slashed layer-2 transaction fees and improved Ethereum’s economics. Now, it introduces a fresh set of upgrades aimed at making Ethereum more scalable and user-friendly.

read more on ethereum's economics here: Ethereum's Infinite Endgame: Balancing Issuance, Staking, and Decentralization

Big Day for Ethereum!

Ethereum devs kick off testing for Pectra, the first major upgrade in almost a year.

They’re running trial versions on the Holesky and Sepolia testnets through February and March, before the real deal hits mainnet—probably in April.

What’s in the upgrade?…
— Nic (@nicrypto) February 24, 2025

Here’s what’s changing:

More Validator Rewards: The maximum balance for earning rewards increases from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, encouraging larger validators to stay engaged.
Faster Transactions: A key proposal, EIP-6110, reduces deposit processing times by 40x, making staking and withdrawals more efficient.
Smarter Accounts: EIP-3074 and EIP-7702 bring account abstraction improvements, allowing users to send multiple transactions at once and even pay gas fees without holding ETH.
Improved Layer-2 Scaling: EIP-7691 increases Ethereum’s blob capacity by 50%, reducing layer-1 transaction costs and making rollups more efficient.
Easier Validator Exits: EIP-7002 simplifies the process for validators to leave the network, making staking more flexible.

Read more on pectra: etherworld.co/pectra

Conclusion

If the Holesky and Sepolia tests are successful, Ethereum developers will finalize a launch date in early March.

With upgrades like Pectra rolling out at a faster pace, Ethereum is reinforcing its position as the leading smart contract platform. The next few months could mark a major shift in how users and developers interact with the network.