Pectra Upgrade: What's New and How to Track It on Etherscan

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade went live smoothly on 7 May 2025 at 10:05 UTC (epoch 364,032). It activates eleven Ethereum Improvement Proposals, the largest set ever deployed in a single upgrade. Long-time Ethereum contributor Pooja Ranjan counts Pectra as the network’s 19th upgrade since 2015 and the 3rd hard fork since The Merge.

Pectra combines the separate “Prague” execution-layer changes with the “Electra” consensus-layer changes so that both halves of the protocol move forward together.

The path to mainnet wasn't smooth sailing. Early activations on the Sepolia and Holešky testnets revealed critical issues. To make absolutely sure the code was ready, core developers spun up a purpose-built Hoodi testnet, where Pectra finalized cleanly, paving the way for the mainnet slot.

The 11 EIPs fall into 3 major categories to improve user experience, streamline staking experience, and support L2 scaling. The rest of the article looks at the headline EIPs in each category and shows where Etherscan surfaces the new data.

1) EIP-7702 Set Code for EOAs

This upgrade allows you to sign an authorization message that enables your EOA to temporarily adopt the capabilities of a chosen smart contract, opening the door to better user experience via batched transactions, sponsored gas payments, and permission management.

Where to see it on Etherscan

Pectra introduces a new Type 4 transaction that carries an Authorization List, used when you sign an authorization message. On Etherscan, you can find a list of EIP-7702 Authorizations at etherscan.io/txnauthlist.

Open any one of the transactions in the list to view details of an authorization in a transaction under the Authorization List tab.

Here, you'll find:

1. Authority: The EOA that signed the authorization message
2. Delegated Address: The contract whose code the EOA will run
3. Nonce: The EOA's last used nonce
4. yParity, r, s: These are components of cryptographic signature that are used to verify the EOA's consent to delegate execution

The EOA's address page shows you:

1. The address it is currently delegated to (if any), and
2. All the past authorizations signed by this EOA

To remove a previous delegation, the wallet simply signs a fresh authorisation whose delegated address is the zero-address (0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000).

Important to Note:

• While this new feature makes it much easier for users to transact on Ethereum, it also makes phishing scams easier if users are not careful. As a rule of thumb:
  • Delegate only to trusted contracts that have been verified and audited by the community
  • Avoid reusing delegations across different chains, as the same contract address can point to completely different code on each network
  • Regularly review and revoke outdated delegations to retain control over your address
• Wallet providers like MetaMask and others will be slowly rolling out features that support EIP-7702. Keep an eye out for them!

• Read more about EIP-7702:
  • https://x.com/medhakothari/status/1919959258998661405
  • https://www.bankless.com/read/eip-7702-ethereum-onchain-culture
  • https://blog.biconomy.io/a-comprehensive-eip-7702-guide-for-apps/
  • https://ethereum.org/en/roadmap/pectra/7702/

2) EIP-7251 Increase Max Effective Balance

Pectra raises the validator balance ceiling from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, allowing large operators to merge many small validators into a handful of “super-validators” and reducing network overhead. Read more on staking-related improvements covered in the previous article.

This EIP introduces the Consolidation Request Contract that processes stake consolidation requests from validators. The request requires a 96 byte input with:

1. source_address: Bytes20
2. source_pubkey: Bytes48
3. target_pubkey: Bytes48

Up to two consolidation requests are processed per block. The source validator exits, and its full balance is credited to the target validator after the standard withdrawal delay.

Where to see it on Etherscan

On Etherscan, simply navigate to the Consolidation Request Contract to inspect any one of the transaction. We'll use this consolidation request transaction as an example:

1. This is the execution layer (EL) address that submits and pays for the consolidation request
2. This is the validator key whose balance is being withdrawn. The screenshot below shows its balance dropped to 0 after the exit

3. This is the validator key that receives the transferred stake. The screenshot below confirms the higher effective balance once the consolidation is credited.

To see how many consolidation requests an EL address has made, use Advanced Filter with the AND operator. In this example, the address submitted 8 consolidation requests, resulting in a total effective balance of 256 ETH.

You can monitor validator consolidations via this dashboard:

Fun fact:

• Read more about EIP-7251:
  • https://www.kiln.fi/post/ethereum-pectra-upgrade---everything-you-need-to-know
  • https://x.com/nixorokish/status/1909785898893689161
  • https://notes.ethereum.org/@fradamt/maxeb-consolidation

3) EIP-7691 Blob Throughput Increase

This change doubles the target blobs per block so that rollups have more cheap space for data availability:

• Target blobs per block: 3 → 6
• Maximum blobs per block: 6 → 9

More blobs mean L2s can publish twice the data without competing for calldata, keeping transaction fees low even as activity grows.

Where to see it on Etherscan

On Etherscan, visit etherscan.io/txsBlobs to view blobs posted to Ethereum in real time. Alternatively, you can browse etherscan.io/blocks to view the number of blobs in each block.

Open any blob-containing block page to see 2 key changes:

• Target blob count has increased from 3 to 6

• Maximum blob count per block has increased from 6 to 9

The upcoming Fusaka upgrade will introduce PeerDAS, expanding blobspace to support even more rollup data.

Closing Thoughts

The improvements introduced in Pectra are promising, aligning with the Ethereum Foundation’s new objectives to scale L1, expand blob capacity, and enhance user experience.

That said, it’s still early days, there’s much more to build on Etherscan to support emerging community use cases introduced by this upgrade. Got Pectra-related feedback or ideas? Tag us on X @etherscan!