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GM, Aleks here.

It’s that time of year. Another major Ethereum upgrade — codename: Pectra — will go live on Wednesday.

By one measure, it’s Ethereum’s largest upgrade to date, containing more improvements than any prior hard fork.

Unlike recent upgrades, however, it lacks a single headline feature.

In 2022, Ethereum developers changed the blockchain’s consensus mechanism, swapping out its metaphorical engine for a new one that uses 99% less electricity.

In 2023, they enabled the withdrawal of staked Ether, freeing billions in locked capital. Last year, they slashed the cost of using affiliated layer 2 blockchains by as much as 98%.

In Pectra, developers have opted instead for many smaller improvements meant to streamline user experience and ensure that Ethereum’s layer 2 blockchains remain affordable.

Here’s a quick overview.

First, Pectra will make finicky crypto wallets more like traditional internet accounts.

Users will be able to set up two-factor authentication and email-based account recovery in case they lose their all-important seed phrase.

Protocols and companies will be able to pay transaction fees on behalf of users, ensuring some services are totally free. Transactions that would typically require multiple approvals will need only one.

Second, it doubles the number of so-called blobs Ethereum can handle.

With last year’s upgrade, Ethereum developers introduced blobs, a form of data storage that layer 2 blockchains can use to submit compressed transaction data to Ethereum.

It made layer 2s far more affordable, but blobs are already becoming congested, and a spike in activity can send their price soaring.

Developers have bet that layer 2 blockchains are the most practical way of using Ethereum without paying its exorbitant transaction fees. Doubling blob capacity will ensure that remains the case — for now, at least.

Third, Pectra benefits validators, the computers that process transactions and add new blocks to the Ethereum chain. Running a validator will be simpler and more lucrative after the upgrade.

Then there’s a bevy of smaller upgrades.

One upgrade sets up the network for future changes that promote decentralisation. Optimism contributor Binji — an excellent translator of technicalese — likened another to a “nerdy new calculator for doing super-complicated math.” That will benefit protocols running on cutting-edge, zero-knowledge technology.

But Pectra won’t address critics’ biggest gripe about Ethereum.

“Notably, there are no code changes in Pectra targeted at hardening the narrative of ETH as ‘sound money’ or a store of value,” crypto firm Galaxy wrote back in October.

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Got a tip about DeFi? Reach out at aleks@dlnews.com.