Core developers of Ethereum have officially announced that the eagerly awaited Pectra upgrade is set to launch on May 7.
Nixo Rokish, a member of the protocol support team, revealed this update in a social media post on April 3, stating:
“Pectra mainnet date confirmed May 7. Let’s gooooo.”
Fellow Ethereum contributor Terence also provided further details, confirming that Pectra will go live at 10:05:11 UTC on May 7. This date replaces the previously considered, but ultimately discarded, plan for April 30.
Rokish noted that finalizing the earlier date would not satisfy the 30-day notice period that builders require for planning their work on Ethereum.
He explained:
“April 30th wasn’t set in stone and I pushed for May 7th instead of April 30th because builders need a 30-day notice from a confirmed date to prepare for the fork, and confirming April 30th would’ve only given us a 27-day notice.”
A Pivotal Moment for Ethereum
The Pectra upgrade is viewed as a significant enhancement designed to improve wallet functionalities and user experience.
Industry experts suggest it may rejuvenate Ethereum’s ecosystem, which has been under increasing pressure in recent months.
Tracy Jin, COO of the crypto exchange MEXC, believes the upgrade could stimulate on-chain activity by reducing transaction fees and enhancing scalability. She shared her thoughts:
“If the Ethereum network upgrade proceeds as planned, we expect the network’s scalability to improve and fees to drop – this could revitalize activity on the network and might serve as a catalyst for reaching the $3,000 level again.”
Recently, Ethereum has encountered serious hurdles. In the first quarter of 2025, the asset experienced a 45% drop, marking one of its worst quarterly results since 2022.
The community has also raised concerns regarding leadership, leading to significant changes at the Ethereum Foundation. Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak have been appointed as co-executive directors, while Aya Miyaguchi takes on the role of Foundation President.
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