Ethereum Pectra upgrade to arrive on May 7

Ethereum is preparing to deploy its Pectra upgrade on May 7. The fork may bring more dynamics to the otherwise stagnant token price. The long-awaited upgrade will be live on May 7, bringing the expected changes to end-users’ experience, as well as network scalability.The upgrade is expected at block height 364032, with no signs of arriving later or earlier than scheduled. The biggest changes will be the introduction of smart wallets, increasing blob capacity, and the expansion of staking from 32 ETH to a maximum of 2,048 ETH. The upgrade comes at a time when Ethereum blobs are seeing increased usage, burning between 84 and 100 ETH in 24 hours.Ethereum slides before Pectra launchBlob usage is currently the leading activity on Ethereum based on fee burns. The upgrade will further bring down the costs of L2 chains while also boosting native Ethereum-based activities. The upgrade will target both large-scale holders and end users with smart wallets, batch transactions, and smart sessions, pointed out Pedro Gomes, builder of WalletConnect. The upgrade opens the doors to personal smart wallets and cheaper usage of Web3 services with sponsored gas.The upgrade is also expected to cause temporary delays in deposits and withdrawals on Ethereum for some services. Crypto.com will support the upgrade and will shut down deposits and withdrawals around the predetermined block height to ensure network stability. The upgrade comes at a time when Ethereum active addresses have fallen as low as 326K in 24 hours, lagging behind Solana and L2 chains.Previously, Pectra was expected to arrive as late as June, but the readiness of the nodes pushed the upgrade earlier than anticipated. Pectra is part of an effort to make Ethereum more scalable and less reliant on L2 chains. The end goal is to return on-chain activity to Ethereum while retaining the capabilities of L2 chains.Pectra has been widely considered a potential trigger for the price of ETH. However, ETH has rarely rallied after upgrades, and the news kept failing to cause a rally. Just as Pectra was announced, ETH sank again under $1,800. ETH traded at $1,770.13, with open interest under $10B. ETH is at a crossroads, with a mix of accumulation and panic-selling for a loss.The token is seen as risky for another correction, preventing traders from risking leveraged positions. The Pectra upgrade is one of the factors behind the most optimistic predictions for an ETH rally. The potential downside of ETH is also pushing DeFi protocols, where loans are starting at a lower liquidation price in the $1,400 range. Liquidation levels in DeFi go as low as $863, signaling relatively low confidence in the ability of ETH to hold a reliable price range.The post Ethereum Pectra upgrade to arrive on May 7 first appeared on Coinfea.