Ethereum developers aim for May 7 mainnet deployment of Pectra upgrade

Ethereum developers have locked in May 7 as the target date for the Pectra upgrade to go live on the mainnet, slightly delayed from prior discussions that estimated late April as the upgrade time.The latest decision to finalize the May date was made during a core developers' call on Thursday, following a successful test on the Hoodi testnet.This call brought together key contributors to discuss the progress and scheduling of the Pectra hard fork, the most significant update to the Ethereum network regarding software changes.The upgrade includes 11 modifications via Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), which strive to improve the network's usability staking capabilities.This involves improvements to the user experience in wallets and account abstraction through EIP-7702, raising the upper limit for validator stakes from 32 to 2,048 ETH via EIP-7251, and increasing the maximum blob count to advance rollup scalability through EIP-7691.While May 7 is the planned date, it’s worth noting that such timelines can still shift based on further testing or unforeseen issues. In March, developers had indicated in a meeting that if no major issues arose, Pectra could be activated on the mainnet about 30 days after the Hoodi test in late April.Shifting the mainnet deployment to early May now gives stakeholders and client teams additional preparation time.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.