Ethereum developers celebrated the successful testing of the Pectra upgrade on Sepolia until errors jeopardized its mainnet rollout.
Successful Start and Unexpected Problems
On Wednesday, Ethereum developers initially celebrated the successful testing of the Pectra update on the Sepolia testnet. This was seen as the final step before launching on the Ethereum mainnet. However, soon errors began occurring, casting doubts on the timeline. The update aims to improve Ethereum’s efficiency, user experience, and validator system. This is the second problematic test for Pectra following earlier issues on the Holesky testnet.
Causes and Solutions for Issues on Sepolia
According to the Ethereum Foundation, the issues were linked to "an issue with Sepolia’s permissioned deposit contract," which prevented some execution layer clients from including transactions in blocks. This was a testnet-specific misconfiguration rather than an inherent flaw in Pectra. Developers quickly identified the root cause and implemented a fix to restore Sepolia’s functionality.
The Future of the Pectra Update
Despite the solution, concerns remain about sufficient testing for Pectra. The Holesky testnet has previously encountered issues due to misconfigured validators, raising doubts about Pectra’s readiness. Christine Kim, VP of Research at Galaxy Digital, suggested delaying Pectra’s mainnet activation until the wider Ethereum ecosystem is prepared. Ethereum developers are scheduled to meet on March 7 to decide on a launch date.
The Pectra update is a significant step for Ethereum, but current testing issues require further checks before it goes live on the mainnet.
