Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade leads Binance and Coinbase to temporarily halt trading.

Top cryptocurrency platforms Binance and Coinbase will temporarily halt Ethereum (ETH) deposits and withdrawals as they prepare for the upcoming Pectra upgrade on the network.

Binance has indicated that this suspension will also impact tokens operating on Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Scroll, Worldcoin, and zkSync. The pause is set to begin at 09:45 (UTC).

The exchange assured its users that trading will proceed uninterrupted, but users will be unable to transfer funds during the scheduled upgrade period. This measure is designed to mitigate potential complications from forks or network reorganizations.

In light of this, Binance advised users who intend to bridge or withdraw assets to do so prior to the commencement of the pause.

Coinbase has adopted a similar strategy, announcing that ETH transfers will be halted as a precaution during the upgrade.

The exchange, led by Brian Armstrong, specified that new staking requests will be held until after 3:45 A.M. PT, whereas existing staked assets will remain unaffected.

### Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade

The Pectra upgrade is a pivotal technical advancement for Ethereum, merging elements from the Prague and Electra upgrades to enhance both user experience and developer workflows.

This upgrade incorporates eight Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), with one particularly noteworthy change gaining attention.

EIP-7702, the key proposal, introduces account abstraction, allowing standard cryptocurrency wallets to function like smart contracts. This advancement could enable users to pay gas fees using tokens other than ETH.

However, the path to this upgrade has seen its share of hurdles. Ethereum developers encountered finalization problems on the Holesky testnet due to bugs related to incorrect deposit contract addresses, leading to chain splits and instability.

Additionally, another issue arose on the Sepolia testnet, caused by custom deposit contracts, which also affected block processing.

In response to these challenges, developers initiated a new testnet named Hoodi to complete testing.

After successful trials, Ethereum’s core development team confirmed that the Pectra upgrade will launch later today, May 7.

Despite the excitement surrounding the upgrade, the price of ETH has shown little movement, with data indicating only a 1.5% increase in the past 24 hours, placing the token at approximately $1,828 at the time of reporting.