Key EIPs in Pectra and their impact

EIP-7702: Account abstraction

Authored with input from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, EIP-7702 — included in Pectra — enables user wallets to temporarily execute smart contract logic, a step toward full account abstraction. This EIP allows wallets to support features such as letting third parties, like dApps, cover gas fees, enabling “freemium” models where users can interact without ETH.

Users can also combine multiple actions, such as token approvals and swaps, into one transaction, which is expected to reduce gas costs and user friction.

Finally, account abstraction is expected to enable features like social recovery, allowing users to restore lost keys via trusted contacts.

EIP-7251: Staking with higher validator limits

EIP-7251 increases the maximum effective validator balance from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, allowing for reward compounding and validator consolidation.

Previously, stakers with more than 32 ETH had to split stakes across multiple validators, creating operational complexity. Large operators can now merge multiple 32 ETH validators into one, reducing network bandwidth demands. Solo and institutional validators will have fewer nodes to manage, lowering hardware and maintenance costs.

However, critics warn that EIP-7251 may increase centralization, as wealthier stakers or pools could dominate.

EIP-7691: Doubling blob throughput for Layer 2 scalability

Building on Dencun’s proto-danksharding, EIP-7691 increases blob throughput from 3 (target) and 6 (max) to 6 and 9 per block, respectively.

Blobs — temporary data stores for Layer 2 rollups — reduce L1 fees for rollups like Arbitrum and Optimism by 10–100x. This EIP may boost rollup efficiency, resulting in more blobs, which can mean lower transaction fees and faster processing for Layer 2 users.

It also allows rollup developers to scale dApps more cost-effectively, which is important as Layer 2 TVL grows.