According to Mallesh Pai, the senior research director at blockchain software company ConsenSys, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade does not endanger decentralization. He characterizes this update as primarily addressing the routine “chores” presently managed by validators backstage.
On May 9, during a Cointelegraph X event called Space, Paijad
said
A validator’s odds of suggesting a block or receiving rewards still depend on the amount of Ether they possess.
ETH
) they maintain, noting that bigger validators do not receive any additional benefits from the update:
“Rewards continue to be proportional to the amount of ETH you have. […] it’s not the case that if you’re a big validator, you somehow have any more advantages than you did before.”
Pectra
is Ethereum’s most extensive network upgrade
since the Merge took place in September 2022. Pectra allows validators to stake as much as 2,048 ETH, up from the previous limit of 32 ETH. The new standard has raised community concerns about the risks of centralization on the network.
According to Pai, the Pectra upgrade has taken “a bunch of busy work that the network was doing behind the scenes and removed it.”
Open the Youtube video
Pai observed that although approximately one million technical validators exist on Ethereum, many of them lack true uniqueness—largevalidators frequently manage multiple virtual keys using just a single physical device. Thanks to the Pectra update, thesekeys can now be combined—a consolidation trend he mentions has already begun.
In an ideal scenario, we’ll reach around 30,000 validators,” he stated, noting that this reduction helps minimize extraneous tasks and allows network participants to concentrate on critical aspects like decreasing gas fees.
Related:
The Ethereum Specter update introduces new capabilities—how soon will we see a reaction in the ETH price?
New Pectra stake limits clear path for institutional involvement
The new limit
could open up possibilities for organizations to bet on Ethereum
According to Artemiy Parshakov, who serves as the vice president of institutions at an Ethereum staking service,
P2P.org
EIP-7002 simplifies the integration of institutional staking while minimizing potential risks.
Staking Ethereum through exchange-traded funds became a prominent subject in 2025. BlackRock indicated that the popular Ether ETFs have shown promise.
are incomplete withoutstaking
, several financial organizations have submitted requests to modify their Ethereum Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) to enable staking.
If approved, investors might be more inclined to buy into the ETFs, as they could receive yield. The SEC
has yet to rule
on staking amendments.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas recently forecast in a podcast interview that if staking were to be approved for Ether ETFs, it
would have “a little impact” on inflows
. “The bigger problem with Ethereum is performance; it just doesn’t ever go on a nice long rally.”
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