• Ethereum Foundation developers are planning to launch the Hoodi testnet before the Pectra upgrade mainnet launch. 
  • Pectra upgrade mainnet launch was delayed after facing configuration issues on Holesky and Sepolia testnets. 

The Ethereum Foundation is one of the largest developer communities of crypto. They achieved the first of its kind Merge event, transitioning Ethereum from the PoW to the PoS consensus mechanism. The Ethereum developer community actively works towards improving the scalability and usability of the Ethereum network. 

The upcoming Ethereum Pectra upgrade launch on its mainnet is yet to take place. Despite several iterations and testnets, the Pectra upgrade faced several configuration issues before. After both the Holesky and Sepolia testnets faced issues, the developer community decided to introduce the Hoodi testnet. 

Hoodi Testnet to Ensure Pectra Ready to Go Live on Mainnet

The Pectra upgrade will be deployed on the Hoodi testnet on Monday. Once everything goes well, the Pectra upgrade will be launched on the Ethereum mainnet by the end of April. This time, the developer team is planning to invest significant resources to run a similar validator count as the Ethereum mainnet. 

Both Holesky and Sepolia faced issues regarding Pectra upgrade testing. Holesky lost finality because of configuration issues around a couple of weeks ago. Even though the testnet regained its finality this week, developers cannot use it for research purposes. 

On the other hand, there was an unknown attack on the Sepolia testnet recently. This further pushed the Pectra upgrade launch on the mainnet. The Ethereum developer community is facing criticism over the Pectra upgrade launch delay. However, Ethereum supporters are patiently waiting for the network to improve despite market price challenges. 

Ether price slightly improved today as it climbed to the $1,900 price level. Its market price has been going on a cascading downtrend for a couple of months. While global macroeconomic conditions have their influence on the crypto market, Ethereum is also losing its shine amidst increasing layer 1 blockchains in the industry.