Ramazan Eles 
Ethereum developers are contemplating dividing the upcoming Pectra upgrade into two distinct phases, aiming to enhance the network’s efficiency and scalability. The first phase is tentatively scheduled for early 2025.
Developers Eyeing an Accelerated Rollout
During a meeting on September 12 regarding Ethereum’s execution layer, a developer mentioned that if the upgrade is split, the goal would be to release the first part as soon as possible, ideally at the beginning of the next year.
“If we do decide to split, our aim is to roll out the first phase of Pectra as swiftly as possible, ideally by early next year,” stated an Ethereum developer.
Another developer suggested that a February release might be realistic for the split version.
Developer Danno Ferrin added, “It makes sense to consider splitting the fork only if the delivery is planned for the first quarter.”
Splitting the Upgrade May Reduce Risks
It has been proposed that dividing the upgrade could be a safer approach since smaller forks generally carry less risk.
The Pectra upgrade combines two separate improvements: Prague and Electra. The Prague upgrade focuses on changes to the network’s execution layer, while Electra affects the consensus layer.
Christine Kim, a crypto researcher at Galaxy, believes that “Given the complexity of the current Pectra fork and the desire to add more to the upgrade, the likelihood of splitting is high.”
“If developers opt to divide the upgrade into two hard forks, the scope of the Pectra upgrade could change dramatically,” Kim added.
Optimistic Industry Outlook on Pectra
A final decision on this matter is expected during the next Ethereum All Core Developers (ACD) call on September 19.
Kim had previously noted on June 7 that the Pectra upgrade was shaping up to be the largest in Ethereum’s history.
Ethereum educator Sassal echoed a similar sentiment, stating to his 254,500 followers, “Pectra is set to be Ethereum’s next major network upgrade, potentially the largest in Ethereum’s history.”
In April 2024, Cointelegraph reported that Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 was approved for inclusion in the next update. This proposal enables regular crypto wallets to function like smart contracts.
One of the functionalities of EIP-3074 is to provide smart contract capabilities to standard external accounts (EOAs) — ordinary wallets like MetaMask. This facilitates features such as transaction batching, which requires only a single signature, and sponsored transactions where one wallet can allocate funds to be used by another.
The potential splitting of the Pectra upgrade presents both opportunities and challenges for the Ethereum community. While a faster and less risky update could advance the network in the short term, the expansion of scope and increased complexity might impact long-term goals. The decisions made by developers will be crucial in determining Ethereum’s future scalability and functionality.
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