Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Goes Live, Maximum Stake Limit Expanded to 2,048 ETH

Pectra builds upon Ethereum's previously deployed Dencun upgrade that was completed in March 2024.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 8 May 2025 16:07 IST

Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Goes Live, Maximum Stake Limit Expanded to 2,048 ETH

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Shubham Dhiman

Pectra brings smart account wallet UX features to Ethereum

Highlights

The upgrade was tested on Sepolia, Holesky testnets
Its activation was initially slated for April 30 but was delayed
Some argue that Pectra has made ETH smart contracts vulnerable

The Ethereum blockchain completed its latest Pectra upgrade on May 7. The aim of introducing this upgrade is to upscale the experience and reward generation for Ethereum validators. Now that the Pectra upgrade is live, network validators can stake 2,048 ETH tokens, a notable rise from the previous limit of 32 ETH tokens. This allows them to earn higher staking rewards and improve their overall experience of contributing to the network.Following the upgrade, developers will reportedly be able to scale decentralised apps on Ethereum more effectively.

The activation of the Pectra upgrade on the Ethereum mainnet was confirmed by Ethereum.org via X. "Pectra is live on Ethereum mainnet! Smart account wallet UX features now active, L2 scaling data storage blobs increased by 2x, validator UX improvements live. Community members will continue to monitor for any issues over the next 24 hours," the blockchain team informed its 3.2 million followers on May 7.

upgrade in progress . . .

activating Pectra @ epoch 364032 // 10:05:11 UTC
— Ethereum.org (@ethereum) May 7, 2025

What's New With the Pectra Upgrade

Allowing users to stake 2,048 tokens at once reduces their need to set up multiple validator nodes on the network. Overall, this change is expected to make the blockchain more efficient and smooth. Earlier in February, the Ethereum team shared details about the upcoming change, claiming that " for smaller stakers, this enables automatic reward compounding. Both existing and new validators can be configured to earn rewards on the entirety of their stake, up to 2048 ETH per validator.

The Pectra upgrade comes with 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), a report by Token Insights claimed. Tim Beiko, who runs the core protocol meetings for Ethereum, had explained some features of Pectra via his X account earlier in February.

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Pectra is coming to Ethereum testnets :night_with_stars:

On Feb 24th, at epoch 115968, the upgrade will go live on Holesky. Then, on Mar 5, at epoch 222464, it will activate on Sepolia.

Assuming both of these go smoothly, we'll then pick an epoch for mainnet activation. More info below :point_down: pic.twitter.com/1o9iFbYVaR
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 14, 2025

The other significant development that it brings to the table is "Account Abstraction". This essentially allowing users to deposit gas fees with tokens other than ETH. Reports claim that Pectra is the second-largest upgrade for Ethereum after the Merge.

However, some concerns around the safety of users' smart contracts and wallets have surfaced on social media. Threat researcher Vladimir S., for instance, alerted his followers on being careful while signing transactions on Ethereum now that Pectra is live. Individuals have been advised to only sign messages from known and trusted sources, understand what the message entails, and opt for wallets that have advanced security measures before integrating them to pay gas fee using tokens other than ETH.

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Pectra is coming to Ethereum testnets :night_with_stars:

On Feb 24th, at epoch 115968, the upgrade will go live on Holesky. Then, on Mar 5, at epoch 222464, it will activate on Sepolia.

Assuming both of these go smoothly, we'll then pick an epoch for mainnet activation. More info below :point_down: pic.twitter.com/1o9iFbYVaR
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 14, 2025

The Ethereum team has yet to address these concerns. Pectra builds upon Ethereum's previously deployed Dencun upgrade - that was implemented to lower the expenses for Layer-2 networks.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Pectra, Dencun, Merge

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a ma... more »