Ethereum developers will launch the Hoodi testnet to test the Pectra upgrade

The need for a new testnet arose after bugs were discovered when deploying the upgrade to the Holesky and Sepolia networks

14.03.2025 - 10:15

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What’s new? Ethereum Foundation developers will launch a new Hoodi testnet for the Ethereum blockchain on March 17. The decision comes after a previous call where developers discussed bugs in deploying the upcoming Pectra hardfork on the Holesky and Sepolia testnet.

Material by The Block

What else is known? Due to its high complexity, the Prague-Electra (Pectra) upgrade will be activated in two phases. The first phase was originally scheduled to be rolled out in March, but it has been postponed due to launch issues in the testnet.

The developers have allowed that Pectra could be activated on the Ethereum mainnet as early as April 25, about 30 days after the planned rollout of the upgrade on the new Hoodi testnet.

The Ethereum Foundation plans to invest significant resources in this network and run a “similar validator count” as on the Ethereum mainnet.

Holesky went offline after the Pectra deployment due to configuration issues with the upgrade test, which resulted in many validators being disabled and the network’s inability to properly record transactions.

While this ability was restored on March 10, the network is not fully usable for all research purposes, hence the need for a new Hoodi testnet.

Hoodi will allow researchers to test validator exits, which would not be possible in Holesky due to a backed-up exit queue. Holesky and Sepolia will be used to test other aspects.

“This option was chosen to avoid client teams writing custom code to clear the Holesky exit queue, which could lead to further bugs and delay work on Pectra fixes and Fusaka implementations,” according to the call meeting notes.

The Pectra upgrade aims to improve the usability and scalability of Ethereum. It includes plans to reduce the cost of data availability, significantly increase the staking limit, and introduce account abstraction, which greatly expands the functionality of smart contracts and wallets.

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