Ethereum’s long-awaited Pectra upgrade took a major step forward early Wednesday with its successful deployment on the Sepolia test network.
The biggest upgrade to Ethereum since 2024, Pectra consists of 11 major features, or “Ethereum improvement proposals” (EIPs), that will be shipped all at once. Together, the features aim to enhance staking, wallet functionality, and overall network efficiency.
Sepolia’s Pectra upgrade, which was completed at 07:29:36 UTC, followed a failed test on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet last week. A misconfiguration among validators resulted in a chain split, rendering Holesky temporarily unusable.
Testnets mimic a main blockchain and are used by developers to test code changes in a low-stakes environment. Holesky, which has a validator structure closer to Ethereum’s mainnet than Sepolia, was seen as a critical proving ground for Pectra. (Developers are still working to get Holesky back into operation…
