$ETH The Pectra hard fork, Ethereum’s biggest upgrade since Dencun, is set for May 7, 2025, merging the Prague and Electra updates with 11 EIPs to boost scalability, staking, and user experience. Key features include:

Scalability (EIP-7691): Doubles blob capacity to 6 per block, enhancing Layer-2 (L2) data availability and lowering fees, though it’s a temporary fix until PeerDAS arrives in 2026.

Smart Accounts (EIP-7702): Enables Externally Owned Accounts to act as smart contracts, supporting gas sponsorship, token based fees, and transaction batching for better UX.

Flexible Staking (EIP-7251): Raises validator balance cap to 2,048 ETH, simplifying staking but raising centralization concerns.

Social Recovery (EIP-3074): Allows asset recovery via invoker contracts, reducing losses from lost keys, with risks of malicious contract exploits.