Ethereum developers are facing significant challenges as the Pectra upgrade moves to a new testnet after encountering various unexpected issues that have delayed its launch on the mainnet.
Initially slated for a March debut on the Ethereum mainnet, the Pectra upgrade was introduced to the Holesky testnet on February 24. However, it struggled to finalize, prompting developers to delve into the underlying issues.
On March 5, the upgrade was pushed out to the Sepolia testnet, but once again, developers were met with errors—this situation worsened after an unidentified attacker exploited a rare scenario, leading to the mining of empty blocks.
In a bid to enhance preparations for the upgrade, Ethereum core developers established a new testnet named “Hoodi.”
### Developers Feeling the Strain from Pectra Preparations
Launched on March 17, Hoodi is set to implement the Pectra upgrade on March 26. Should everything go as planned, Pectra could potentially reach the mainnet by April 25.
In a conversation with a reporter, a member of the Ethereum Foundation’s protocol support team, Nixo Rokish, noted that developers have faced a challenging road while gearing up for the Pectra upgrade. Rokish expressed that there is a sense of anxiety among team members due to the unexpected issues that arose in two consecutive testnets, which were not indicative of how the upgrade would perform on the mainnet.
She added that the fatigue is particularly evident among the consensus layer developers, as Hoodi represents the third testing attempt for Pectra.
“The consensus layer developers, in particular, are feeling quite exhausted right now,” Rokish shared.
### Developers Address Critical Issues
Rokish explained that one reason for the Holesky testnet’s failure was its lack of testing with such a limited validator set on the canonical chain.
“While Holesky is designed to be decentralized, it had never been evaluated with such a small number of validators on the canonical chain,” she stated.
As the validator count dwindled to roughly 10%, they overwhelmed their RAM and memory by maintaining the state for the 90% of validators on the non-canonical chain.
“This was an unprecedented scenario for us,” she remarked. “Consequently, the consensus layer developers found themselves in a position where they had to adjust a significant number of elements, which was quite draining for them.”
Despite the recent obstacles with the testnets, overall development in the Ethereum ecosystem continues to advance.
On March 13, 2024, the network introduced the Dencun upgrade, which brought about numerous enhancements. Following the Dencun upgrade, previously high gas fees decreased dramatically, dropping by 95% within a year. As of March 23, average gas prices reached historic lows of just 0.28 gwei.