Ethereum: What's behind the first major update after Dencun?

Ethereum plans to roll out the Pectra upgrade in the first quarter of 2025 as the first major update after the Dencun upgrade. This upgrade, which includes EIP-3074, is intended to improve the usability of wallets by introducing smart contract-like features.

These include simultaneous approval of multiple transactions, payment of gas charges in different tokens and enhanced security and account recovery features.

The introduction of EIP-3074 not only optimizes the user experience, but also strengthens the network's ability to handle higher transaction volumes.

Focus on scaling transactions

Ethereum's current scaling factor is 11.20x. This means the network has increased its capacity to process transactions more than tenfold from its initial performance. On the mainnet, the average transaction rate is currently around 30 transactions per second (TPS).

But by using layer 2 solutions such as Arbitrum and Optimism, the network can effectively handle more than 330 TPS. The peak values of the layer 2 solutions regularly reach over 150 TPS, which significantly increases the efficiency and resilience of the network.