Ethereum News: Pectra Upgrade Successfully Deployed on Sepolia Testnet After Holesky Setback

Ethereum’s developers have achieved a significant milestone in their ongoing efforts to upgrade the network, with the successful deployment of the Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia testnet. This follows a previous setback on the Holesky testnet, but the project is now back on track.

Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Successfully Launched on Sepolia Testnet

Ethereum’s developers have successfully launched the Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia testnet. According to Ether developer Terence Tsao, Pectra went live on Sepolia at 7:29 a.m. UTC on March 5, 2025, completing the second test phase with a perfect proposal rate. This deployment follows a failed attempt on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet last week due to a misconfiguration among validators, which led to a chain split and temporarily rendered Holesky unusable. Sepolia, on the other hand, finalized the upgrade with a perfect proposal rate. Testnets serve as experimental environments for developers to test upgrades without risking real assets, and Holesky was expected to be the mainnet-equivalent testing ground for Pectra.

Ethereum Whales Suffer Losses, But Some Are Accumulating More

Ethereum whales have faced losses not seen since the previous bear market, with the unrealized profit ratio showing significant declines. Despite this, development activity has risen in the past month, accompanied by accumulation amongst a particular whale cohort. Ethereum was down 14.36% from Sunday’s high, highlighting a sign of weakness compared to Bitcoin, which has fallen 8%. Analysts observed that while the market capitalization was falling, development activity was increasing, not just for Ethereum but for other large-cap altcoins as well.

Ethereum Pectra Upgrade and Potential Mainnet Delay

The Ethereum Pectra upgrade has been successfully deployed on the Sepolia testnet, marking a major milestone leading up to the mainnet activation. However, developers may choose to delay the mainnet launch due to unresolved issues from a previous testnet failure related to Holesky. The Pectra upgrade aims to improve Ether staking, overall network capacity, and layer-2 (L2) network scalability, and has significant community support.

Ethereum 2025 Price Prediction as Trump Announces US Crypto Reserve

Following its inclusion in Donald Trump’s newly announced US Crypto Reserve, Ethereum’s price prediction for 2025 has sparked debate among crypto enthusiasts. Most expect Ethereum to break out of its long-drawn sideways channel, while some foresee more price correction. This guide analyzes Ethereum’s technicals and fundamentals to predict its performance in the coming 10 months.