On May 7, 2025, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade went live, introducing 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) designed to streamline staking, improve network scalability, and enhance user and developer experiences.

This hard fork represents a targeted evolution—addressing specific bottlenecks across the network while laying the foundation for Ethereum’s modular future.

Let’s walk through what Pectra changes, why it matters, and how each EIP contributes to Ethereum’s next phase of growth.

What Is the Pectra Upgrade?

Pectra is a combined protocol upgrade that merges two planned updates: Prague (focused on the execution layer) and Electra (focused on the consensus layer).

Together, they introduce a set of 11 EIPs that enhance Ethereum’s scalability, security, and usability.

Building on the progress made by Dencun’s blob infrastructure, Pectra pushes Ethereum closer to being a more efficient, modular, and developer-friendly network.

Why Pectra Matters

Ethereum’s growth has always been driven by continuous iteration.

With each upgrade, the network adapts to meet new challenges—whether it’s handling more users, reducing transaction costs, or simplifying developer tooling. Pectra is no different. It improves validator operations, boosts Layer 2 throughput, enables smarter wallets, and optimizes on-chain data access.

The real impact will depend on adoption, but the direction is clear: Ethereum is evolving to stay ahead.

Let us breakdown of the 11 EIPs in Pectra.

1. Staking and Validator Improvements

EIP-7251: Raising Validator Balance Limits

EIP-7251 increases the maximum effective balance per validator from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH.

This change allows large stakers to consolidate their holdings into fewer validator nodes, reducing the complexity and overhead of managing multiple validators.

For example, a staker with 1000 ETH previously had to maintain 32 separate validators. Post-Pectra, they can operate a single validator handling the entire balance.

This streamlining of staking infrastructure reduces hardware requirements, cuts operational costs, and simplifies node management for institutional stakers and large providers.

EIP-7002: Safer Validator Exits via Execution Layer

EIP-7002 enhances the validator exit process by enabling exits to be initiated through the execution layer using withdrawal credentials.

Previously, validators had to use their active keys—often stored on hot wallets—to trigger exits, increasing security risks.

With this change, validators can now use withdrawal credentials tied to secure, offline wallets, providing a safer and more convenient method for managing exits.

This is particularly important for large staking operations where key security is critical.

For instance, an institutional validator can now exit without exposing sensitive keys, mitigating risk while improving operational control.

EIP-6110: Faster Validator Onboarding

EIP-6110 accelerates the onboarding process for new validators by embedding deposits directly into execution blocks.

This reduces the time it takes for a validator to become active from roughly 12 hours to just 13 minutes.

The impact is immediate: a new validator depositing 32 ETH can start participating in consensus and earning rewards almost instantly.

This improvement enhances staking responsiveness and ensures that validators can react quickly to network incentives or changes in market conditions.

EIP-7549: Optimizing Attestations for Scalability

EIP-7549 restructures the way validators handle attestations by moving the committee index outside the signed message.

This allows identical votes from different validators to be aggregated into fewer signatures, significantly reducing the data load and computation required.

For large staking pools managing thousands of validators, this translates to lower bandwidth usage, reduced infrastructure costs, and faster processing times.

Imagine a scenario where multiple validators agree on a vote—before Pectra, each vote had to be processed individually. Now, these can be combined into a single signature, improving efficiency without impacting rewards.

2. Scalability and Network Efficiency

EIP-7691: Doubling Blob Throughput

EIP-7691 increases the number of blobs that can be included in each block from 3 to a target of 6, with a maximum of 9.

Blobs, introduced in the Dencun upgrade, provide an efficient way to store Layer 2 data on Ethereum.

By doubling the throughput, Layer 2 networks like Optimism can post more data per block, enhancing transaction capacity and lowering user fees.

However, this increase also raises storage and bandwidth demands for validators, making it a trade-off between scalability and resource usage.

For a DeFi protocol operating on a rollup, this means faster transactions and reduced costs for end-users.

EIP-7623: Incentivizing Blob Usage via Calldata Cost Increase

EIP-7623 raises the gas cost of calldata from 16 to 42 gas per byte, pushing developers towards using blobs for data storage.

Calldata is less efficient compared to blobs, and this price adjustment encourages better block space utilization.

As a result, Layer 2 solutions that previously relied on calldata are incentivized to switch to blobs, improving scalability.

For example, a rollup like zkSync may now find blobs a more cost-effective way to publish transaction data, allowing it to scale more efficiently and pass fee savings to its users.

EIP-7840: Standardizing Blob Scheduling Across Clients

EIP-7840 introduces a standardized method for scheduling blobs across all Ethereum clients.

This ensures that every node handles blobs in a consistent manner, reducing the risk of bugs, inconsistencies, or chain splits during future upgrades.

As blob usage becomes more integral to Ethereum’s scaling strategy, such standardization is essential to maintain network reliability.

For developers working on rollup infrastructure, this consistency simplifies integration and reduces the risk of client-specific issues.

EIP-7685: Formalizing Execution-Consensus Communication

EIP-7685 establishes a formal request format for communication between Ethereum’s execution and consensus layers.

This foundational improvement makes future protocol enhancements easier to implement, especially those requiring coordinated data flows between layers.

For example, if a future upgrade introduces cross-layer state proofs, this standardized communication pathway will simplify its deployment, reducing both development time and risk of implementation errors.

3. User Experience and Account Abstraction

EIP-7702: Smarter Wallets with Temporary Account Code

EIP-7702 allows externally owned accounts (EOAs) to temporarily behave like smart contracts during a transaction.

This enables advanced features like batch operations, gas sponsorships, and alternative signature schemes, without requiring users to switch to a smart contract wallet.

For instance, a user can now approve a token and execute a swap on a DEX within a single transaction, saving both time and gas fees.

This enhancement moves Ethereum closer to full account abstraction, making on-chain interactions smoother and more intuitive for everyday users.

4. Developer Tools and Smart Contract Enhancements

EIP-2537: Efficient BLS Signature Verifications

EIP-2537 introduces a precompile for BLS12–381 curve operations, significantly reducing the gas cost of verifying BLS signatures on-chain.

By lowering verification costs, EIP-2537 makes cryptographic techniques - validator groups, cross-chain bridges, and zero-knowledge proof systems, more practical for developers.

For example, a bridge protocol relying on BLS signatures can now operate more cost-effectively, passing on transaction fee savings to its users while maintaining high security standards.

EIP-2935: Expanding Access to Historical Block Hashes

EIP-2935 extends the availability of historical block hashes from 256 blocks to 8192 blocks, roughly 27.3 hours of network history.

This enhancement is crucial for smart contracts that rely on older block data for randomness, verification, or oracle functions.

For instance, a decentralized lottery can now securely reference older block hashes to generate random numbers, improving fairness and transparency without relying on external oracles.

Closing Thoughts

The Pectra upgrade is a pivotal evolution in Ethereum’s journey—streamlining staking, scaling Layer 2 throughput, enabling smarter wallets, and enhancing developer tooling. Each EIP in Pectra addresses a specific challenge, but together, they reinforce Ethereum’s position as the go-to smart contract platform in a modular blockchain world.

At Lampros Tech, we build future-ready blockchain solutions that align with this vision. If you’re looking to build on Ethereum’s next chapter let’s talk!