Ethereum core developers decided that they aim to ship the Pectra upgrade by the first quarter of 2025 in an execution layer meeting on Friday.

Pectra represents the next major update for Ethereum, succeeding the Dencun upgrade, which was effectively implemented in March 2023.

The upgrade will incorporate the Ethereum Virtual Machine Object Format (EOF), comprising about 11 improvement proposals that enhance the EVM code on both Layer 1 and Layer 2 levels.

Additionally, developers will include EIP-7251, or “increase max effective balance,” into Pectra. This change will allow individual validators to stake more than 32 ETH, with a maximum of 2,048 ETH — instead of the current maximum limit of 32 ETH. Raising the maximum effective validator balance would allow such operators to manage …