The long-awaited Pectra upgrade on the Ethereum network is now live on the Holesky testnet. The upgrade is designed to enhance the scalability of the protocol, but there were some minor issues during the testnet launch. As developers focus on the testnet deployment, the success of this move will determine the upcoming version on the mainnet in April.
Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Testnet Details
Christine Kim, Galaxy researcher on X, said the upgrade was launched at Epoch 115,968/115,965. The update was deployed in slot 3710978, with 1775010 active validators. The testnet came with Genesis Fork version 0x01017000, with a total staked Ethereum value of 56766401 ETH. Unfortunately, the Pectra upgrade on the Holesky testnet has not yet been completed.
In context, finality is a key step in adding blocks as it ensures that confirmed transactions are immutable and irreversible. This is one of the pressing issues in the deployment of the Holesky testnet. However, at the time of writing, Ethereum developers are troubleshooting the chain. It is still unclear why transactions failed to finalize on the Holesky testnet.
About a year ago, the Dencun hard fork upgrade also failed to complete during the initial testing phase on the Goerli testnet.
Pectra Hardfork Official Release Timeline
Meanwhile, as CoinGape reported earlier, the deployment of this Pectra hard fork combines 11 major upgrades, consistent with the timeline previously agreed upon by developers.
During the 203rd All-Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call held in mid-January, developers agreed to initiate the upgrade from early to mid-March.
However, the lack of finality may cause the launch plan to go off track, especially if the root cause of the issues cannot be quickly determined. The initial plan was to launch the upgrade on the mainnet before mid-April, but the timeline may change.
Impact of Pectra on Ethereum Price
Market observers and analysts expect the final appearance of this hard fork to trigger a significant surge in Ethereum's price. At the time of writing, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, trading at $2,500.77. In the past 24 hours, as the broader market declined, Ethereum's market cap shrank by 11.2%.
However, cryptocurrency analyst CryptoGoos predicted earlier in ETH price analysis that the token may reach $10,000. This cryptocurrency enthusiast pointed out that ETH has followed Bitcoin's lead before a massive surge.
CryptoGoos's prediction aligns with that of Crypto King. Another analyst noted, 'ETH will break through $10,000.'
Renowned cryptocurrency expert CryptoCaesar has also stated that Ethereum will break through $6,000. These predictions form the basis for the hypothesis that Ethereum may be approaching its bottom price.