Ethereum L1 is nearly ready to launch the Pectra hard fork. This brings several changes and upgrades for validators and their behavior on the L1. Some highlights include:
Many of these improvements will bring UX benefits to EigenPods and enable new functionality and use-cases. We are roadmapping these improvements for our native restakers.
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Of note here, the fork also brings breaking changes to EigenPod proof generation. We are preparing a release of the EigenPod Proof Generation CLI in the short-term to address the changes and ensure that EigenPods can be used as-expected after Pectra, while we take more time to prepare an upgrade with new Pod improvements to use the features outlined above.
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Prior to the Pectra hard fork, starting checkpoint and credential proofs on EigenPods will be paused. During the paused period, checkpoints that were started are still completable. Post hard-fork, the EigenPods will be upgraded, after which credential and checkpoint proofs will become unpaused. We conservatively estimate pods to be paused 6 hours prior to the hardfork with a total of ~12 hours of downtime on mainnet.
To submit Pectra-compatible checkpoint proofs, EigenPod can contnue using will need to version v1.3.0 of the EigenPod Proof Generation CLI. It has been published on our releases page. The contract release is linked here.
For testnet, the Pectra-compatible EigenPod implementation upgrade is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th. Mainnet is scheduled for Wednesday, May 7th.
Mainnet: The Ethereum Foundation has officially signaled the fork schedule on their blog.
Wednesday, May 7th at 10:05 UTC
This upgrade does not take advantage of other Pectra features, including consolidations and execution layer triggerable exits. An upgrade to support these features will be available in a release after slashing.