This document will guide you through our step-by-step plan for the implementation of the new electra fork. We’ve broken the work into three clear phases to make our goals and priorities easy to follow. This is a living document, so we will update it as we progress through the implementation.
| Status | Phase | What & Why | Key Steps | Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🏗️ | Phase 1: Beacon Chain Implementation | Build the electra-upgraded beacon chain core | • Apply electra-specific changes • Run & pass full spec tests |
Run spec suite (make spec-test), aim for 0 failures |
| ⌛ | Phase 2: P2P & Sepolia Long-Running Sessions | Ensure stability on Sepolia | • Implement the P2P changes • Deploy the node on our server pointing to Sepolia • Fix every issue we found that interrupts the node execution |
Continuous uptime checks & up-to-date block processing for 72+ hrs in Sepolia |
| ⌛ | Phase 3: Validator Upgrades | Ensure validators duties on devnets | • Implement the honest validator changes • Make assertoor work • Test via Kurtosis & Assertoor |
Execute Kurtosis scenarios & Assertoor with continuous uptime checks and up-to-date validation duties for 72+ hrs on kurtosis |
We kick off with the beacon chain implementation because passing the full spec test suite is critical for protocol correctness and a solid foundation. Once all tests are green, we move to Phase 2 for prolonged Sepolia sessions and the implementation of the p2p interface changes, ensuring real-world testnet stability before mainnet moves to electra which would limit our network options before we upgrade. This will allow us to continue running long session on our servers and monitor the node execution given that just the block/epoch processing and state transitions are needed for this. With a stable node confirmed, Phase 3 begins, upgrading the validator logic, tested through Kurtosis and Assertoor to finalize the electra upgrade roadmap.
Once we finish the whole electra upgrade we have a clear path to follow for the next steps:
- Hooli long running sessions: Right now Holesky was not an option for us because of performance issues, we need to test on Hooli and see if we can run the node on it on acceptable performance. This effort will be in parallel to the performance optimization one.
- Performance optimization: We need to run the node on Hooli and mainnet to identify and fix the current bottlenecks, specially on block and epoch processing.
- Electra code enhancements: During the implementation, some complex functions were identified that could be simplified. They are mostly related to how to manage early returns in already large python reference functions and port the logic to elixir. We will work on those to improve the code quality and make it easier to maintain in the future.
Right now we are at the Beacon Chain Implementation phase, our current spec test results for the past weeks are:
- April 15th, 2025:
11370 tests, 2003 failures, 784 skipped - April 22th, 2025:
11370 tests, 165 failures, 784 skipped
Note: The aim is to reach 0 failures before next week, so we can start the long running sessions on Sepolia. Also, we want to validate the 784 test skipped on the second phase.
Here we will detail the current implementation gaps with the specs and the way to test every phase. The initial one is the larger to implement but it has the most clear way to validate it (spec-tests). The next phases are smaller but they need to be validated on long running sessions both in devnets and testnets.
We are at 54/58 (91%) of the beacon chain changes, and most of the remaining functions are already in progress. We have fixed all 11370 spec tests. The skipped tests were there previous to the electra upgrade, so we will work on them if needed after we finish the first phase.
The current status of the implementation in the electra-support branch is as follows:
- New
PendingDeposit(Spec, PR) - New
PendingPartialWithdrawal(Spec, PR) - New
PendingConsolidation(Spec, PR) - New
DepositRequest(Spec, PR) - New
WithdrawalRequest(Spec, PR) - New
ConsolidationRequest(Spec, PR) - New
ExecutionRequests(Spec, PR) - New
SingleAttestation(Spec, PR) - Modified
AttesterSlashing(Spec, PR) - Modified
BeaconBlockBody(Spec, PR) - Modified
Attestation(Spec, PR) - Modified
IndexedAttestation(Spec, PR) - Modified
BeaconState(Spec, PR)
- Modified
is_eligible_for_activation_queue(Spec, PR) - New
is_compounding_withdrawal_credential(Spec, PR) - New
has_compounding_withdrawal_credential(Spec, PR) - New
has_execution_withdrawal_credential(Spec, PR) - Modified
is_fully_withdrawable_validator(Spec, PR) - Modified
is_partially_withdrawable_validator(Spec, PR)
- Modified
get_attesting_indices(Spec, PR) - Modified
get_next_sync_committee_indices(Spec, PR) - New
get_balance_churn_limit(Spec, PR) - New
get_activation_exit_churn_limit(Spec, PR) - New
get_consolidation_churn_limit(Spec, PR) - New
get_pending_balance_to_withdraw(Spec, PR)
- Modified
initiate_validator_exit(Spec, PR) - New
switch_to_compounding_validator(Spec, PR) - New
queue_excess_active_balance(Spec, PR) - New
compute_exit_epoch_and_update_churn(Spec, PR) - New
compute_consolidation_epoch_and_update_churn(Spec, PR) - Modified
slash_validator(Spec, PR)
- New
get_committee_indices(Spec, PR) - Modified
compute_proposer_index(Spec, PR) - New
get_max_effective_balance(Spec, PR)
- Modified
process_epoch(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_registry_updates(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_slashings(Spec, PR) - New
apply_pending_deposit(Spec, PR) - New
process_pending_deposits(Spec, PR) - New
process_pending_consolidations(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_effective_balance_updates(Spec, PR) - Modified
get_validator_from_deposit(Spec, PR)
- Modified
process_withdrawals(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_execution_payload(Spec) - Modified
process_operations(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_attestation(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_deposit(Spec, PR) - Modified
process_voluntary_exit(Spec, PR) - New
process_withdrawal_request(Spec, PR) - New
process_deposit_request(Spec, PR) - New
process_consolidation_request(Spec, PR) - New
is_valid_deposit_signature(Spec, PR) - Modified
add_validator_to_registry(Spec, PR) - Modified
apply_deposit(Spec, PR) - Modified
get_expected_withdrawals(Spec, PR)
- Modified
is_valid_block_hash(Spec) - Modified
notify_new_payload(Spec) - Modified
verify_and_notify_new_payload(Spec)
We didn't start this phase yet, its goals are:
- P2P electra changes implementated.
- To have a stable node processing state transitions in testnets, especially Sepolia.
- Validate the remaining 784 skipped tests to make sure they are not masking any issues.
The aim is to have the node running on Sepolia uninterrupted for 72+ hrs. The following is the implementation gap for this phase:
- Updated
beacon_blocktopic validation (Spec) - Updated
beacon_aggregate_and_prooftopic validation (Spec) - Updated
blob_sidecar_{subnet_id}topic validation (Spec) - Updated
beacon_attestation_{subnet_id}topic validation (Spec) - Updated
BeaconBlocksByRange v2(Spec) - Updated
BeaconBlocksByRoot v2(Spec) - Updated
BlobSidecarsByRange v1(Spec) - Updated
BlobSidecarsByRoot v1(Spec)
We didn't start this phase yet, its goals are:
- Honest validator changes implemented.
- To have a stable node processing validator duties in a kurtosis devnet.
- Have assertoor working with automatic test for the validator duties.
The aim is to have the node running on kurtosis uninterrupted for 72+ hrs. The following is the implementation gap for this phase:
- Modified
GetPayloadResponse(Spec) - Modified
AggregateAndProof(Spec) - Modified
SignedAggregateAndProof(Spec) - Modified
get_payload(Spec) - Updated
prepare_execution_payload(Spec) - New
get_execution_requests(Spec) - Updated
compute_subnet_for_blob_sidecar(Spec) - Updated
construct attestation(Spec) - Updated
construct aggregate(Spec)
- April 10th, 2025: Created the document with the implementation gap.
- April 22th, 2025: Updated the document with a clear roadmap, next steps and detailed current status.