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The move to replace Holesky with Hoodi as Pectra’s main testing ground was one of four options discussed in Thursday’s all-core developer call. Several protocol teams were particularly relevant to staking infrastructure, lobbying for faster but more risky options, effectively overturned by core developers.
Holesky had to find an alternative test environment for Pectra, especially for exit-related features, with Validator Exit Queue, which could take over a year. Four options were considered.
- Option A: Start a new testnet (Hoodi) to replace Holesky.
- Option B: Use DevNet 6 as a temporary testnet.
- Option C: Spin up Holesky’s short-term shadow fork.
- Option D: Implement a hard fork that clears the exit queue of Holesky.
For protocols like Lido and Eigenlayer, option D was a clear preference despite its hacky flavour. With infrastructure and integration already built around Holesky, this option allowed Lido to skip relocation of tools, Oracles and other dependencies, focusing only on Pectra-specific testing.
Lido’s Ivan Metrikin estimated that option A would take two months to migrate to the new testnet. The contract rollout and touring takes several weeks, followed by additional time for testing.
Matt Nelson of Eigen Labs repeats this concern and notes that he spends weekly relocating infrastructure, delaying his ability to ensure compatibility with Ethereum’s next hard fork. Given that lido and eigenlayer collectively manage billions of muddy ETH, green light for the Pectra mainnet rollout is important.
The topic of Ether Staking is likely to appear in the Blockworks DAS session, which is Ethereum’s appeal to in-facility builders on March 20th.
Core developers prioritize stability (and fusaka)
Despite these concerns, Ethereum’s client team opposed Option D. Their reasoning was two.
The hardworking Holesky needs “hacking” to introduce risk. Making a one-time change to the execution queue can inadvertently create code paths that affect the stability of the mainnet.
The delay caused by debugging Holesky fixes is a waste of Fusaka’s development time. The core team claimed that they could spend an extra two weeks on the Holsky patch and spiral into a cumulative delay of several months.
Marius van der Wijden of Geth suggested that the client team could “cool a bit” while waiting for the LST team to complete their testing at Hoodi.
As a result, Pectra Mainnet Fork is currently officially behind in mid-May. Hoodie is scheduled to perform a live show on Monday, March 17th, with Pectra active on March 26th. The rule of thumb for Ethereum is to wait at least 30 days before selecting a mainnet block, but liquid staking teams like Lido and Eigenlayer have now extended their timeline for transitions.
Meanwhile, the client team uses additional time to improve the code and lays the foundation for the Fusaka.
The deadline for submitting Fusaka’s EIP is March 24th, providing the team with a short window to confirm their proposal. By March 31st, the core team is expected to share feedback, leading to the final range decision on April 3rd or April 10th.
To streamline future ACD calls, Ethereum Foundation coordinator Tim Beiko proposed moving more EIP proposal presentations into the asynchronous process. Plus, there is a new EIP status. The inclusion (DFI) reserved for EIPs that feel that the team should be postponed to future forks, but are not completely rejected, has been denied.
