• Ethereum developers have shifted the Pectra upgrade target to April or May for additional testing
• The success of the Hoodi testnet will determine the mainnet launch date for the upgrade

Ethereum [ETH] core developers have moved the anticipated launch of the Pectra upgrade on the mainnet to April or May. This adjustment hinges on how well the upgrade performs during testing on a new, proposed testnet called Hoodi.

During a developer call on March 13th, the team decided to launch the Hoodi testnet on March 17th. The goal is to closely monitor and resolve bugs that were previously identified during testing on the Holesky and Sepolia testnets. According to an outline shared by developer Tim Beiko, which you can read here,

“Hoodi will allow us to specifically test validator exits, something that’s currently challenging on Holesky because the exit queue is so long – it would take about a year to clear. However, all other features included in the Pectra upgrade, such as validator consolidations, can still be effectively tested on both Holesky and Sepolia.”

What’s next after Pectra upgrade?

For those who are new to this, it’s worth noting that Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake system always involves a queue and a variable waiting time for validators who want to become block proposers (either entering or exiting this role). Currently, it takes approximately an hour for new validators to join the mainnet network, but a much longer period of around a year on Holesky.

Therefore, to proactively address potential issues with validator exits on the mainnet, the Pectra upgrade will be carefully evaluated on Hoodi. The developers further explained,

“A specific date for the Pectra mainnet upgrade will only be set after Pectra is successfully activated on Hoodi and the client teams express confidence in the stability of the testing phase. The mainnet launch is planned to be at least 30 days after the Hoodi launch (on or after April 25th).”

In the meantime, testing of certain Pectra features will continue on Holesky and Sepolia. Following the Pectra upgrade, the next major focus will be the implementation of Fusaka, an upgrade specifically designed to scale Layer-2 networks. Research teams have until early April to propose inclusions for the Fusaka upgrade.

Back in February, Georgios Konstantopoulos, CTO of Paradigm, encouraged the Ethereum development team to accelerate the Fusaka upgrade after Pectra. His reasoning is that scaling Layer-2 solutions is crucial for Ethereum to effectively compete with other blockchains like Solana.

Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, shared similar thoughts in early March, stating,

“For 2025, we need to get Fusaka onto Layer 1 with PeerDAS, ideally targeting a 48/72 blob target/limit. Let’s aim to have a Fusaka testnet running with these blob parameters as soon as possible after Pectra goes live.”

Ultimately, these planned upgrades are all aimed at further reducing transaction costs on Ethereum and increasing the network’s transaction processing capacity. This is particularly important as competition intensifies from platforms like Solana and other smart contract blockchains.