Recently, friends in the cryptocurrency community have been hotly discussing the Ethereum Pectra upgrade. This is not just an ordinary update; it is likely to reshape the ecological landscape of Ethereum, bringing countless new opportunities and changes. If you don’t understand it, you might miss out on wealth!
1. Pectra upgrade opens ‘cheat codes’ for your wallet
Let’s first talk about the account function upgrade that is most closely related to everyone. Previously, Ethereum's externally owned accounts (EOA) were like a single-function old-fashioned wallet—cumbersome to operate and with some security concerns. But the EIP-7702 proposal in the Pectra upgrade has given wallets a glamorous transformation.
It supports batch processing of transactions. Previously, if you wanted to perform ‘approve’ and ‘swap’, you had to run two transactions like running two windows, which was time-consuming and fees kept rising. Now, it’s like merging two windows into one; one operation gets everything done, saving you quite a bit on fees!
The gas sponsorship feature is particularly considerate. Imagine you suddenly discover an amazing investment opportunity, but your wallet doesn’t have enough ETH to pay for the transaction fee—wouldn’t you feel anxious and helpless? With gas sponsorship, others can help you cover this fee, so you won’t miss out on great opportunities over such minor issues.
For those friends worried about wallet security, EIP-7702 has also taken this into account. It supports using the hardware security modules (HSMs) on your phone to authorize account operations through passwords and other technologies, which is much safer than traditional private keys. Moreover, in case of issues, there are multiple recovery mechanisms, so you no longer have to fear your assets ‘disappearing’.
2. Validators welcome a ‘spring’, ordinary people can also earn money effortlessly
For friends participating in Ethereum staking, the Pectra upgrade is a timely blessing.
The EIP-7251 proposal is simply a blessing for small stakers; it increases the maximum balance of validators from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH and allows automatic compound rewards on a larger active stake. Previously, the portion of the stake exceeding 32 ETH had no rewards, making it difficult for small stakers to earn more. Now, profits will take off directly! Even if you don’t stake that much, you can still enjoy the benefits of compound growth.
Moreover, for large validators, multiple 32ETH validators can be merged into one, reducing network bandwidth requirements and making management easier. The EIP-7002 proposal makes withdrawals more flexible. Previously, only validators could trigger exits, but now, as long as you set the execution layer address as ‘withdrawable certificate’, fund owners can operate withdrawals themselves without worrying about relying on others.
The EIP-6110 proposal reduces the waiting time for validator deposits from 9 hours to 13 minutes. This means your funds can arrive faster, and the usage efficiency is greatly improved. Previously, you had to wait so long while your funds could only ‘stand guard’, but now they can be more flexibly circulated.
3. Major expansion of data blocks, Layer2 ecosystem is about to ‘explode’
The impact of the Pectra upgrade on the Layer2 ecosystem should not be underestimated. The EIP-7691 proposal increases the data block capacity of Ethereum by 50%.
Don’t underestimate this point; the change it brings is enormous.
Currently, each Ethereum block can accommodate about 3 data blocks, and up to 6 at peak times. After the upgrade, it can support an average of 6, and up to 9 during high demand. For Layer2, this is like widening a previously narrow road, allowing more vehicles (transaction data) to fit.
Layer2 can use these additional data blocks to submit more compressed transaction data and proofs, which means that transaction costs will be further reduced and transaction speeds will be faster. In the future, when you trade on Layer2, the transaction fees may be low enough to make you smile, and you won't have to worry about not wanting to trade because the fees are too high.
4. Have you discovered these hidden benefits?
In addition to the above, the Pectra upgrade has many hidden benefits.
EIP-2537 increases the operational security bit to over 120 bits, which is like adding a sturdier lock to your assets, greatly enhancing security. EIP-2935 prepares for stateless clients, allowing Rollups to benefit from a longer history and directly query storage contracts, which will elevate the performance of the entire Ethereum network.
EIP-7549 improves efficiency by reducing the number of pairs needed for verification consensus.
The efficiency of the Casper client makes Ethereum run more smoothly.
5. How can ordinary people seize this wave of dividends?
Seeing this, are you already excited? So as ordinary investors, how can we seize this wave of dividends?
If you frequently trade Ethereum, quickly check if your wallet supports EIP-7702. Utilizing batch processing and gas sponsorship can help you save a lot of money.
If you participate in staking, consider decentralized staking and choose reliable platforms like Lido to fully utilize the compound rewards brought by EIP-7251 while reducing risk.
For the Layer2 ecosystem, pay more attention to popular projects like Arbitrum and Base, seize the opportunity for interaction mining, and you might just mine some ‘treasures’.
However, overall, the opportunities brought by the Pectra upgrade far outweigh the risks. As long as we do our homework in advance, we can share a piece of the pie in this Ethereum transformation.$ETH