A third and hopefully final Ethereum testnet has gone live to test out Pectra, Ethereum’s long-awaited hard fork that’s been beset by delays.
Deployed on March 17, Hoodi is intended to emulate the Ethereum mainnet as closely as possible, particularly in terms of its validator set.
As Hoodi spins up, the Ethereum community is holding its breath.
Developers are optimistic, with Ethereum Foundation’s Tim Beiko hinting that a successful test could trigger a 30-day countdown to mainnet deployment.
But the ghosts of Holesky and Sepolia loom large. Will Hoodi finally deliver the stability Pectra needs, or will it uncover yet another bug?
The Hoodi test: Ethereum’s moment of truth
There were already two Ethereum testnets being used for Pectra bug-checking, Sepolia and Holesky, and it ran into issues on both, with Holesky proving to be the most troublesome.
Those issues have now been overcome, but just to make sure, ETH devs have deployed Hoodi as a third testnet.
While another delay is not out of the question, Ethereum-native protocols are obliged to operate with the assumption that Pectra is imminent – which means educating their users on what to expect.
It also means preparing to update smart contracts and other codebases to accommodate the amendments Pectra introduces, particularly in raising the maximum validator stake from 32 to 2048 ETH.
Ethereum changes big and small
From a user perspective, a lot of what Pectra adds will be imperceptible, at least at first.
The most tangible improvement will be the ability to pay for gas fees using tokens such as USDC.
But for developers and stakers, the changes will be readily apparent.
Subtler changes, according to Danyal Hanif, Ethereum Product Lead at P2P.org, include “Consolidation, allowing validators to merge into a chosen 0x02 target validator which simplifies the process of moving infrastructure between operators.”
This will also support moving between staking strategies such as switching to SSV-based staking.
Hanif also notes the extensive preparatory work that Ethereum staking providers are currently engaged in, with P2P.org “aiming to seamlessly enable all of the core Pectra functionality for all of our existing and new customers whether they have staked through our dapp or API,” adding, “A point to note is that current validators have 0x01 credentials and to enable Pectra functionality, validators will be required to upgrade to 0x02 credentials.”
Most of this may fly over the heads of Ethereum solo stakers, but it’s essential stuff for the likes of P2P, Lido, and SSV Network to nail before Pectra hits mainnet.
So while Ethereum developers put the third and hopefully final Pectra testnet, Hoodi, through its paces, staking providers are dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s in the expectation that May will mark the network’s greatest hard fork in two years.
For months now, the question among Ethereum users has been “When Pectra?” And for months, the answer has been the same: “Soon.”
That prognosis hasn’t changed, even if the official date has felt like it’s been a month away since the start of the year.
Unofficially, it’s now looking like May – provided Hoodi works straight out the box.
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