Ethereum's Pectra Upgrade Faces Testnet Hurdles, ETH Holds $2,200 Support

Ethereum (ETH) has shown resilience in maintaining the crucial $2,200 support level despite recent technical issues related to the Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia Testnet. Developers have successfully addressed these issues, ensuring that the upgrade remains on track for its upcoming mainnet launch.

The Pectra upgrade, designed to introduce significant improvements to the Ethereum network, encountered a glitch in its deposit contract. This led to a faulty execution layer on the Sepolia testnet, prompting the Ethereum development team to work on a fix. The network was subsequently restored to normal operations. Tim Beiko, a key figure in the Ethereum development community, reassured users that this issue was specific to Sepolia’s configuration and would not affect the Ethereum mainnet. He confirmed that the developers had resolved the bug and returned Sepolia to normal operations.

This incident marks the second testnet-related challenge for Pectra in a short period. Last week, the upgrade faced finalization issues on the Holesky testnet due to configuration errors within the execution layer clients. Despite these hurdles, developers remain confident that the mainnet upgrade will proceed as planned, although it is uncertain whether the April deployment timeline will be maintained.

The Pectra upgrade is set to bring several enhancements to the Ethereum network, including account abstraction features that enable functionalities like sponsored transactions and gas fee payments with ERC-20 tokens. Additionally, it will improve wallet recovery, bringing security and usability enhancements to Ethereum wallets. The maximum staking cap will also be raised from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH per node, allowing stakers to pool resources more effectively.

ETH is currently struggling to maintain the $2,200 support level as market sentiment remains cautious following Pectra’s testnet challenges. Recently, Ethereum’s price has faced rejection at the lower boundary of an ascending channel and has been consolidating near $2,200. Analysts argue that if ETH manages to reclaim the lower boundary of this channel, it may attempt to rally toward $2,850, a key resistance level.

Conversely, if bearish momentum starts to pick up speed and ETH closes below $2,200, it may face pressure toward a drop heading into a core support zone at $1,500. Technical indicators offer a