Ethereum's Pectra Upgrade Ushers in Major Improvements
In April 2025, Ethereum rolled out its Pectra upgrade, combining key proposals to boost scalability, staking efficiency, and user experience. Notable changes include raising the validator stake limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, enabling users to pay gas fees with tokens other than ETH, and introducing technologies like Verkle Trees and PeerDAS to reduce data load and enhance network performance.
This upgrade is expected to attract more institutional investors, especially following the U.S. approval of spot Ether ETFs in 2024. ETH is currently trading around $2,637, with analysts predicting potential highs above $5,000 by year-end.