Ethereum Pectra Upgrade: Potential Reshaping of the Ecological Landscape

The Ethereum Pectra upgrade is set to go live on March 5th, integrating the Prague and Electra updates, aimed at optimizing the execution layer and the consensus layer. This upgrade will enhance the ETH staking experience, improve L2 scalability, and expand network capacity. The Pectra upgrade introduces 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals, which are expected to be deployed to the mainnet on April 8th.

Pectra will be implemented in two phases:

1. Mid-March 2025:

• The capacity of the 2nd layer Blob is doubled
• Account Abstraction
• Increase validator staking limit

2. By the end of 2025 or early 2026:

• Verkle tree implementation
• Equally available data sampling

Pectra's Main Improvement Proposal

1. Account Abstraction ( EIP-7702): Allows external accounts to execute certain smart contract functions, enhancing wallet flexibility.

2. Validator staking increases (EIP-7251): the maximum staking balance is raised from 32 Ether to 2048 Ether, simplifying management but potentially exacerbating centralization.

3. Withdrawal Improvement ( EIP-7002): Simplify the withdrawal process and reduce the trust assumptions between the execution layer and the consensus layer.

4. Validator Activation Delay Optimization ( EIP-6110): Reducing the activation time from 9 hours to 13 minutes, improving participation efficiency.

5. Data Block Expansion ( EIP-7691): Increase data block capacity by 50%, enhance transaction processing capability.

6. MEV transparency improvement ( EIP-7516): Provide more MEV-related information and increase transparency.

7. Gas fee adjustment ( EIP-7549): Optimize the fee mechanism to stabilize transaction fees during peak periods.

8. Governance Mechanism Optimization ( EIP-7685): Enhance governance transparency and efficiency.

9. Validator Penalty Mechanism Optimization ( EIP-7021): Adjust the penalty mechanism to balance network security and validator incentives.

10. Smart Contract Performance Optimization ( EIP-7683): Improve contract execution efficiency and reduce Gas consumption.

11. Cross-chain compatibility improvement ( EIP-6123): Enhance interoperability with other blockchains.

The Potential Impact of Pectra on the Ethereum Ecosystem

1. DApp development simplified, user experience enhanced.

2. Changes in the staking mechanism may attract more institutions to participate.

3. L2 scalability improvement, but it may intensify competition between the mainnet and L2.

4. Overall enhancement of network security and scalability.

5. The degree of decentralization may face challenges, with the influence of large stakers increasing.

6. Cross-chain interoperability enhancement helps to expand the ecosystem.

7. Optimization of Gas fee mechanism may affect the development direction of applications like DeFi.

The Pectra upgrade will bring significant changes to Ethereum, but its long-term effects still need to be observed. This upgrade may reshape Ethereum's position in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and could also spark new discussions about the balance between decentralization and efficiency.