Ethereum Price Has Remained Steady Since Late April. Source – Brave New Coin Ethereum Liquid Index

The update went live yesterday, May 7, 2025, at 10:05 UTC (epoch 364032), marking a pivotal moment in Ethereum's evolution toward a more user-friendly, efficient, and scalable blockchain ecosystem.

The Ethereum price has remained in a tight range since late April.

The world's second-largest cryptocurrency has largely traded in a $1,900-$2,000 price band since April 22nd, when ETH experienced its last major price pump. The cryptocurrency rose around 30% in 24 hours to hit highs of $1,984 (Liquid Index price).

However, the cryptocurrency has since slipped back below the $1,900 level. At the time of writing, ETH is changing hands at $1,942.

At the beginning of May, the Pectra upgrade went live on the seventh of May at 10:05 UTC (epoch 364032).

This update, which combines the Prague and Electra hard forks to affect both the execution and consensus layers of the blockchain, arrived after an 18-month development cycle and several testnet delays. It also brought with it 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs).

One of the biggest changes to the blockchain came with EIP-7702, which brought a key step toward full account abstraction.

This allows traditional Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to temporarily execute smart contract code, essentially granting regular wallets limited smart contract functionality.

Among the benefits for everyday users are:

This advancement paves the way for a much more user-friendly and forgiving user experience.

Several friction points that have historically made blockchain interactions challenging for mainstream adoption are now being addressed.

Another game-changing feature is EIP-7251, which dramatically increases the maximum staking limit for validators from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH.

This 64-fold increment provides significant relief for institutional stakers and large Ethereum holders who previously had to operate multiple validator nodes, each with a separate 32 ETH allocation. Among the benefits are:

This change is expected to drive greater institutional participation in Ethereum staking.

In turn, this could strengthen the network’s security and decentralization.

Interest in Ethereum staking has been on the increase since 2024. It is widely thought the Pectra upgrade’s changes to validator node requirments will ease the path for institutional ETH staking.

Source: DefiLlama

Addressing Ethereum’s ongoing scalability challenges, EIP-7691 doubles the blob throughput capacity from around 3 to 6 blobs per block.

This technical improvement directly benefits Layer 2 solutions, which can now submit more compressed transaction data to the Ethereum mainnet at once. The impact for users will primarily be felt through:

L2s can now process transactions at an even faster rate, ultimately leading to a smoother and more responsive Web3 application experience.

The increased bandwidth also allows L2s to handle a larger volume of transactions before needing to be batched together, which is especially relevant during periods of heightened on-chain activity.

The Pectra upgrade marks a significant step in the ongoing evolution of Ethereum. By addressing key pain points around account usability, staking economics, and scalability, this update reinforces Ethereum’s position as the leading smart contract platform while laying groundwork for more user-friendly blockchain experiences.

For Ethereum holders, these improvements suggest a strengthening technological foundation that could translate to increased adoption and utility—potentially supporting long-term value appreciation beyond any short-term market movements.

While Ethereum developers and users celebrate Pectra’s successful deployment, attention now turns to the next major upgrade, codenamed Fusaka. This future update is expected to introduce additional scaling improvements and further refinements to Ethereum’s account abstraction journey.