Holesky testnet revival bolsters Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade mission

Holesky, an Ethereum testnet, has regained finality after nearly two weeks of instability.

The network’s disruption had stalled testing for the anticipated Pectra upgrade, delaying progress on the upcoming hard fork.

However, with Holesky now operational, EthPandaOps, a group of Ethereum developers, confirmed that validators could resume Pectra testing on the testnet.

The developers also recommended that solo stakers use the Ephemery testnet as an alternative environment for independent testing.

Holesky testnet

On March 10, EthPandaOps confirmed that Holesky finalized at Epoch 119090. This milestone was reached after more than two-thirds of the validators participated, stabilizing the network.

Holesky’s disruption began on Feb. 24 when it failed to finalize during Pectra testing.

Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol Support Lead, linked the issue to execution clients such as Geth, which used incorrect deposit contract addresses. This misconfiguration triggered an execution layer (EL) bug, causing chain splits and destabilizing the network.

An initial attempt to resolve the issue failed due to insufficient validator participation. However, with finality now restored, all test transactions on Holesky are permanent and irreversible.

EthPandaOps noted that Holesky has remained stable since its recovery, with ongoing finalizations. Some epochs have seen lower validator participation as users transition from temporary fixes to stable setups. Despite this, the network remains functional and ready for further testing.

Meanwhile, the developers also pointed out that the exit queue is filled with slashed validators and those below the required balance, amounting to nearly one million validators. However, around 700,000 remain active, with their balances expected to rise as they continue fulfilling network duties.

Other challenges

Holesky’s recovery comes as Ethereum developers address another issue on Sepolia, another test network.

Last week, Beiko reported that a custom deposit contract problem disrupted certain execution layer clients on Sepolia, affecting transactions within blocks.

Despite these challenges, Ethereum developers remain confident that Pectra could launch as scheduled in April.