After two trials of Buggy de Pectra, the largest upgrade in Ethereum since 2024, the developers of the network decided Thursday to postpone the upgrade while waiting for other tests.
Pectra, who was planned as a mounting pressure against Ethereum to compete with other blockchains, contains a list of improvements designed to improve the speed and ease of use of Ethereum.
When the developers signed the test dates for Pectra in January, they agreed to use the call of Thursday March 6 to set a date for Pecctra to be put online on Maintnet. If everything was going well, the wait was that the upgrade will be posted in March.
The decision to report came after the Pectra tests on Holesky and Sepolia, the two main test networks in Ethereum, both encountered by bugs. In both cases, the problems resulted from configuration errors with the test rather than problems with Pectra itself.
In normal circumstances, these two tests would have been sufficient. However, due to the bugs, the developers determined Thursday that Pectra should undergo additional tests before it is online on the main network of Ethereum.
“It seems that we need more information before we can really set a concrete date,” said Alex Stokes, researcher of the Ethereum Foundation who directed Thursday’s call.
As for the next steps, the developers decided Thursday to create a “shadow fork” of the Holesky test network, which has been inoperable since the last Pectra upgrade. Pectra test configuration problems have forced many Holesky validators offline, which means that the network can no longer record transactions correctly.
A Shadow fork is a temporary copy of a blockchain network which is rejected once it is no longer necessary. Holesky is a test area of vital importance for Ethereum developers, and a Shadow fork will allow certain key stakeholders – such as development pools and application developers – to test their code on Pectra while the main Holesky network is corrected.
“Whoever wishes to test on Holesky can be tested there,” said Stokes during Thursday’s call. In the meantime, developers will work to operate the main Holesky network, which will require 67% of validators who execute the network to reconfigure their systems and return online.
Once Holeksy can finalize again – which means that it is able to add and record transactions as usual – “we will have more data to make a call to the next steps around Mainnet and launching Pectra,” said Stokes. The developers say that Holesky will work normally again around March 28.
Pectra improvements
Pectra should be one of the most ambitious changes in blockchain to date, aimed at improving the ease of use for network users and operators.
One of the main additions of the upgrade, EIP-7702, gives cryptographic wallets certain intelligent contract capacities. The change is intended to move Ethereum further towards the abstraction of the accounts, a technological functionality which allows the portfolio manufacturers to add user -friendly functionalities, such as the possibility of paying costs with currencies other than the native ethreum eth.
Another key proposal, EIP-7251, will reduce certain headaches for operators of Ethereum, or “Validators”. The change will increase the maximum quantity of ETH that a validator can pay 32 to 2,048, which means that those who put more than 32 ETH will no longer need to divide their assets between so many nodes. The change aims to improve the convenience of validators and reduce the time necessary to run a new knot.
Thursday’s postponement came while members of the community had already expressed their frustration towards the Ethereum Foundation, the non -profit organization which generates development upgrades and coordinates network upgrades.
Critics of the Foundation argue that Ethereum has failed to develop a coherent roadmap that will help him to compete with upward networks like Solana. They indicate the price to laggle ether (ETH) as a sign of broader market confidence.
Read more: The second Buggy test by Ethereum “Pectra” could lead to a delayed upgrade
