Ethereum’s Holesky Testnet Achieves Finality After Pectra Upgrade
On Monday, Ethereum’s Holesky testnet successfully achieved finality, marking a significant milestone nearly two weeks post the implementation of the Pectra upgrade. This critical moment was reached during epoch 119,090, around 19:00 UTC, with more than two-thirds of validators actively participating in the validation of the network. In the context of blockchain, an epoch refers to a designated period during which a specific number of blocks are completed.
Finality is an essential feature in blockchain technology, as it locks transactions irreversibly after two epochs, which is approximately 13 minutes. This vital characteristic had been missing since February 24, primarily due to a configuration bug found in the client software, rather than issues stemming from the Pectra upgrade itself.
In the weeks leading up to this achievement, dedicated restoration efforts were made to address the problem, allowing for this recovery. Developers are now focusing on stabilizing nodes and pruning old states to fully revive the testnet in preparation for comprehensive Pectra testing.
In a related development, the Sepolia testnet, which is also operating with the Pectra upgrade, did manage to achieve finality; however, it later encountered complications due to empty blocks produced by a flawed deposit contract. An attacker took advantage of this situation by executing zero-token transfers, as noted by Ethereum developers, but this issue has since been resolved by the client teams.
The Pectra upgrade brings forth several significant enhancements, including the ability to make gas payments using non-ETH tokens, the introduction of account abstraction, and increased staking limits, all of which aim to improve the overall functionality and usability of the Ethereum network.
