Ethereum devs mark milestone ahead of Devcon

Ethereum’s 200th ACD call brought updates on the Pectra upgrade and the new Mekong testnet — just in time for Devcon in Thailand

article-image

kkssr/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


It started with an understated “woo-hoo” and a laugh. The latest Ethereum All Core Developers (ACD) call marked a milestone for being the 200th such meeting.

As Galaxy’s Christine Kim noted on X, “[W]hat’s cool about these calls is that through the years they’ve remained open, transparent and accessible for anyone to join and listen in on. [A]lso, devs still rely on these calls to act as a critical forcing function for making key governance decisions about [E]thereum.”

As usual, developers discussed key updates around testing networks for the upcoming Pectra upgrade, and a host of other topics in the world of Ethereum technical planning.

Unusually, several of the participants were in the same room together in Thailand, where the largest annual Ethereum conference, Devcon, is set to be underway next week.

A highlight of the call was the launch of Mekong, a new short-term devnet created to support Devcon hackathons. Built on the Devnet 4 spec, Mekong is now live, giving developers a focused environment for innovation ahead of Ethereum’s upcoming changes.

“Mekong is meant to be a playground for wallet developers to experiment with UX changes and for stakers to gain confidence in the upcoming changes,” according to a blog post announcing the testnet.

Devnet 4 will remain accessible for further testing over the next few weeks so as to maintain flexibility for developers experimenting with the evolving protocol.

The conversation also covered recent proposed updates affecting core functionality, specifically in EIPs 7002 and 7521. Minor modifications to these contracts aim to improve user-friendliness, notably by helping users avoid accidental overpayments. While the contracts are currently under audit, developers were asked to review these updates asynchronously, a process that will likely continue after Devcon.

Devs further explored ways to streamline testing by isolating specific parts of the fork — specifically EOF and PeerDAS — for independent activation. Nethermind’s “chainspec” configuration option already supports fine-grained control for EIP activation, allowing teams to toggle individual EIPs for testing. However, concerns arose over the complexity of this approach, as some teams prefer Geth’s simpler fork activation model.

A consensus on a universal approach remains unreached, with some developers noting that fine-grained control could lead to unpredictable interactions if not managed carefully.

Another central issue during the call was Ethereum’s growing data footprint and ways to handle historical data more efficiently. EIP-7801 — aka eth/70 or Sharded Blocks Protocol — was proposed as a short-term solution to reduce nodes’ storage requirements. This measure would ease the data burden until Portal, a more comprehensive data solution, becomes fully integrated. While some teams favor a universal standard for history retention, others advocate for a client-specific approach to managing storage.

EIP-7610 also featured in the discussion, as it aims to resolve certain edge cases in contract deployment. While the proposal is close to finalization, some clients reported challenges in implementation. As a result, an alternative design is now being explored, with a new proposal expected soon.

Devcon provides a rare opportunity for a major cohort of core developers to get together in person and hash out unresolved issues. Ethereum developers are advancing on multiple fronts to optimize infrastructure and meet the scaling demands of dapps and users, at a time when the conventional Twitteratti narrative is that the second most valuable blockchain network is falling behind rivals.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Ethena Labs is leaping from its flagship synthetic dollar, USDe, to a full product suite—USDtb, iUSDe, and the Arbitrum-based Converge Chain—designed to marry crypto-native yields with TradFi-grade compliance. Our analysis shows how expanding into CME, ETF options, and tokenized Treasuries could lift protocol revenue from sub-$500 million in a bear case to several billion dollars if favorable regulation and institutional adoption align.

article-image

The L1’s Interwoven Stack is the most opinionated tech stack yet

article-image

Bitcoin is still rising, 11 years after the documentary film The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin

article-image

Arch Labs CEO told Blockworks that the team plans to launch a native token, but declined to give details

article-image

CEO Mike Silagadze tells Blockworks that the US is “open for business” and why its DeFi bank offering is the first of many

article-image

Doing one thing well and leaving everything else out is often what disruptive technologies do best