Ethereum’s most ambitious upgrade since its transition to proof-of-stake encountered issues on two major testnets, but developers have successfully addressed both.
Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Faces Sepolia Challenges
Following earlier difficulties on Holesky, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade ran into another hurdle on the Sepolia testnet. Tim Beiko, Protocol Support Lead at the Ethereum Foundation, confirmed that developers had swiftly resolved the issue.
Petra, which went live on Sepolia on March 5, marks the final test phase before Ethereum’s largest hard fork since The Merge. Beiko explained that the issue stemmed from a bug in Sepolia’s custom deposit contract.
Bug Fix and Network Recovery
The bug caused transaction transfers and deposit actions to be split instead of being batched into a single blockchain message. Developers acted quickly, patching the issue approximately six hours after Pectra was deployed on the testnet.
“Validators have already upgraded, and the chain is now operating normally,” Beiko announced on X (formerly Twitter). He also noted that some explorers, wallets, and infrastructure providers might experience temporary issues until they upgrade their nodes.
Ethereum’s premier block explorer, Etherscan, later confirmed that Sepolia had resumed block production and transaction settlements.
Final Steps Before Mainnet Deployment
Sepolia was the second testnet affected by Pectra’s rollout. In February, a validator misconfiguration caused Holesky’s network to split, forcing developers to debug and implement a fix.
Holesky and Sepolia serve as the final testing grounds for the Pectra upgrade before its mainnet deployment. Initially, developers planned for an early April rollout on Ethereum’s primary chain. However, the recent testnet challenges may prompt adjustments to the timeline.
Despite the recent roadblocks, Ethereum developers have demonstrated their ability to respond swiftly to unforeseen issues. With both testnets stabilized, the focus now shifts to ensuring a smooth transition for Pectra’s mainnet launch in the coming weeks.
