Ethereum Developers Plan to Roll Out Pectra Upgrade in Two Phases

• Ethereum developers are considering splitting the Pectra upgrade into two phases for a 2025 launch.
• The first phase is expected to be published by February, with a deadline of June.
• The Pectra upgrade includes upgrades to the Prague (execution) and Electra (consensus) layers.

Ethereum developers are considering splitting the highly anticipated Pectra upgrade into two phases to ensure they launch something as soon as possible to meet the community’s expectations.

At a meeting on September 12, developers discussed the possibility of launching the first phase of Pectra by early 2025, with a February target considered achievable.

“There’s a broad consensus that if we split, the idea is to ship Pectra as soon as possible, with a target of early next year,” one developer said at the Ethereum Execution Layer meeting. Another developer echoed this optimism, noting that a February release seems realistic given the potential split.

Developer Danno Ferrin suggested that the split would only make sense if the first phase could be delivered in Q1 2025, while Ethereum researcher Ansgar Dietrichs warned that if the first phase was not delivered by June, the upgrade would be considered a failure. According to Dietrichs, “a split where we only delivered the first half in June would be a failure.”

Industry experts echo this sentiment, with Christine Kim, a crypto researcher at Galaxy, noting that the split is most likely due to the complexity of the Pectra upgrade. She also indicated that the scope of the upgrade could change significantly if developers opt for a two-phase release.

What is Ethereum Pectra Upgrade?

The Pectra upgrade, which combines two major components — the execution-layer-focused Prague upgrade and the consensus-layer-targeted Electra upgrade — promises to significantly improve the scalability and operational efficiency of the Ethereum blockchain.

However, the complexity of the upgrade has led to discussions about splitting it into two separate hard forks.

Despite the challenges, optimism remains widespread within the Ethereum community. Ethereum researcher Christine Kim and teacher Sassal both noted that Pectra is shaping up to be one of the biggest upgrades in Ethereum history, with Sassal calling it the biggest upgrade to date.

A final decision on the distribution of the Pectra upgrade is expected to be made at the upcoming Ethereum All Core Developers (ACD) meeting on September 19.