Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade is the most important update to Ethereum since 2022. "The Merge," Sepolia’s testnet was launched on today.
It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. Ethereum Testnets are used by the community to test and evaluate new technical features before they become live. This allows them to do so without disrupting main blockchain or “mainnet,” It’s like an dress rehearsal.
The launch was not without problems. Ethereum Foundation Core developer Tim Beiko Tweeted that his team were having problems. “investigating an issue caused by the custom deposit contract on Sepolia.”
I added, “This has caused some EL clients to have issues, including transactions in blocks.” ‘EL clients’ typically refers to software applications that run on a node within the Ethereum network.
Well, seems like I jinxed it 😅 We're investigating an issue caused by the custom deposit contract on Sepolia. It has led to some EL users having issues, including with blocks of transactions. https://t.co/OOZpHqxO6S
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) March 5, 2025
Core Ethereum developer Terence had tweeted just hours prior that Pectra’s launch was considered a success. “finalized with a perfect proposal rate” on Sepolia—meaning that all validators successfully proposed every block they were assigned to without missing any.
Pectra suffered recent setbacks in terms of its technical aspects. Ethereum core developers tried to run Pectra using a new testnet called Holesky but failed to reach proper functionality. Tim Beiko of Ethereum’s core development team dismissed the failure as a technical issue. “quite trivial and easily patched.”
According to a report by, some members of the foundation reportedly asked contributors, after last month’s failure, to double-check manually their code before Sepolia was launched. Decrypt.
What is Pectra Upgrade?
Pectra will bring several user-facing features that have been highly anticipated, such as allowing users pay for their gas with cryptocurrencies, other than ETH. Stablecoins—something dubbed account abstraction.
The number of ETH users will be able to stake at once and earn yields from 32 ETH up to 2,048 ETH. Pectra is expected to reduce infrastructure costs up to 50%, according some members of the ETH staking community.
Pectra’s release date has yet to be set officially, and Ethereum developers plan to meet on March 6 to discuss Pectra's mainnet release timeline.
ETH, as per CoinGecko’s data, is currently up 6.5% on the day, but down 9.1% for the week, amid greater volatility in crypto markets.