The Ethereum ecosystem is poised for significant transformation in 2025, with two major upgrades on the horizon: Pectra and Fusaka. These upgrades promise to address key scalability challenges and enhance the network’s capabilities.
Let’s explore what these changes mean for validators, developers, and the broader Ethereum community.
The Road Ahead: Upgrades
Pectra
Pectra (Prague + Electra) has a tentative target of early April (*subject to change). Holesky forked on February 24th and faced significant, ongoing challenges. Sepolia is scheduled for March 5th. It is possible that the issues on Holesky will delay the mainnet fork, as participants will need a public testnet to prepare for the mainnet fork.
Pectra is one of the largest upgrades since the launch of Beacon chain, with many important upgrades.
The most significant upgrade for validators is Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7251: Increase the MAX_EFFECTIVE_BALANCE (maxEB). This change raises the maximum effective balance from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, allowing validators to manage higher balances. However, this upgrade is optional, meaning validators will have the choice to increase their balances, but it is neither automatic nor mandatory.
The rationale for this upgrade is to clean up tech debt and potentially alleviate the validator set size problem. It has been noted previously that once the number of validators on Ethereum approaches 2M the network has difficulty functioning. A big part of this is the time needed to aggregate attestations.
Currently there are a little over 1M validators and a max add of 8 per epoch, or 1,800 validators per day. This means that in the next 12 months a little over 650,000 validators could be added. This is likely getting a bit too close to 2M validators for comfort and would likely become a priority.
One thing to watch post-Pectra will be the validator set size. Will validators opt into consolidating existing validators? Will a significant number of validators be deployed with higher initial balances?
Should the validator set size approach 2M, what comes next? Modifying Ethereum to allow for a validator set size greater than 2M would likely take a lot of work and distract from the current roadmap. There are some medium term solutions like capping the validator set, using a rotating set of attesting validators – similar in concept to the way the sync committee works today – or potentially slowing the activation rate down further.
Here are some additional resources Pectra and EIP-7251.
Fusaka
The next upgrade, Fusaka (Fulu + Osaka), which might happen this year, is still being discussed. It seems certain that EVM Object Format (EOF) and PeerDAS (Data Availability Sampling) will be included. As for the rest – this is a good place to track some ideas and here is a broader thread.
EOF will involve the Execution Layer (EL) and be of most interest to builders. There are a series of EIPs – 11 in total – that underlie EOF, together they do several things such as: separate data from code, allow versioning, code verification at deployment, introducing new instructions, new jump instructions, etc. All of these EIPs taken together make for more expressive, lower cost contracts.
PeerDAS relates mainly to the Consensus Layer (CL) and is about scaling. The idea is to allow validators to only download a portion of blob data – rather than the full amount. Implementing PeerDAS and making certain assumptions allows certain guarantees about the full data set being available. In the same way that proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) is a stepping stone to full danksharding, PeerDAS is a stepping stone to the long term vision of data availability sampling on Ethereum. For a good discussion on this topic see Wagner and Zapico’s article.
PeerDAS is important because it allows Ethereum to scale meaningfully through L2s by increasing the blob count but at the same time not relying on validators increasing their hardware.
The blob count (target and max) will be increased in Pectra. For a good chat about where Ethereum is today and where it is going with Fusaka – the All Core Devs Call (CL) on January 23 was helpful, specifically starting around 19.33.
A goal to increase throughput 8x is the “stretch goal” for PeerDAS following Pectra on devnets; so, the target would go from 6 and max of 9 blobs to a target of 48 and max of 72 target with PeerDAS.
Additionally, there was a discussion about blob parameter only forks – a fork just for changing target/max numbers. Who controls these numbers was also discussed, with one interesting suggestion being that blob parameters could be controlled by validators in a similar manner to max gas today.
Implications for Institutional Staking
The upcoming changes present several key considerations for institutional stakers and staking providers:
Validator Balance Flexibility
The increase in maximum effective balance from 32 to 2,048 ETH through EIP-7251 offers new opportunities for institutional staking operations:
- More efficient validator management for large ETH holders
- Potential cost reduction in operational overhead
- Greater flexibility in stake deployment strategies
- Compounding for balances greater than 32 ETH
Operational Considerations
As a leading staking provider, Figment is preparing for these changes by:
- Upgrading infrastructure to support higher validator balances
- Developing enhanced monitoring tools for the new validator mechanics
- Ensuring compliance and security standards align with the new capabilities
Future of Validator Management
With the validator set approaching 2M, institutional staking providers must carefully consider:
- Optimal strategies for validator consolidation
- Impact on client diversity and network health
- Balance between network participation and technical limitations
Looking Ahead
These upgrades represent a crucial evolution in Ethereum staking. For institutional clients, the ability to operate validators with higher balances could streamline operations. However, careful consideration must be given to network health and decentralization as these changes roll out.
Figment remains committed to providing secure, efficient, and compliant staking services as Ethereum continues to evolve. We’ll continue working closely with Figment’s protocol team to ensure smooth transitions through these upgrades while maintaining the highest standards of institutional staking services.
