Pectra upgrade countdown Vitalik explains the "wallet security" strategy

Since March 2025, the Ethereum Foundation has implemented many initiatives to enhance governance and community participation, such as appointing two co-executive directors, establishing an advisory group, and having researchers return to the foundation.

Vitalik Buterin also reiterated the issue of wallet security, saying that "not only should we prevent theft, but we must also consider how to deal with the risk of asset loss", and proposed a governance model of "AI processing data analysis and humans providing strategic decisions".

On March 17, 2025, the "Hoodi" test network for Ethereum validator exit testing was launched, and the main network activation time for the Pectra upgrade is expected to be launched as early as April 25, 2025. With the approach of the upgrade and the expansion of the Ethereum ecosystem, the Ethereum Foundation has also paid more attention to issues such as "Ethereum must adhere to decentralization, adhere to the principle of open source, prevent technology from being monopolized by a few centralized entities, and avoid deviation from the founding values".

Ethereum Foundation News

Personnel Appointments

On March 1, 2025, the Ethereum Foundation announced the appointment of Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as co-executive directors, which will take effect on March 17, 2025.

Resume of the newly appointed executive director of the Ethereum Foundation

• Hsiao-Wei Wang: Has been a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation for seven years and has long been committed to the research of the Ethereum ecosystem.

• Tomasz Stańczak: Founder of Ethereum client development team Nethermind, with rich experience in cultivating Ethereum technical talents.

The new co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang will also join the Ethereum Foundation’s Board of Directors, which also includes:

 • Chairman of the Board: Aya Miyaguchi

 • Founder of the Ethereum Foundation: Vitalik Buterin

 • Swiss Legal Counsel: Patrick Storchenegger

Establishment of an Advisory Group

Following the announcement of the management appointments, the Ethereum Foundation also announced the establishment of a new advisory group, the Silviculture Society, one of whose goals is to ensure that Ethereum continues to adhere to its open source principles and to prevent Ethereum from deviating from its core values ​​by continuing to provide independent advice. Because as the Ethereum ecosystem expands, some industry insiders worry that Ethereum may be influenced by external interests and deviate from its founding values, especially the original mission of open source principles, and become centralized.

Vitalik Buterin defines the Silviculture Society as an "experimental" attempt. Although this group is not currently the official governance committee of the Ethereum Foundation, its core function is to collect and provide feedback from deep participants in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Currently, the group consists of 15 members, including Matthew Green, a professor of cryptography at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and Lefteris Karapetsas, the founder of the privacy platform Rotki. Most members choose to remain anonymous, which is in line with the spirit of early crypto assets and cyberpunk culture.

Former Technical Researcher Returns to Ethereum Foundation

On March 1, 2025, Danny Ryan, a former researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, announced that he would join Etherealize as a co-founder and return to Ethereum.

Prior to this, Danny Ryan served as the chief technical coordinator of Ethereum's The Merge upgrade, overseeing the launch of the beacon chain. Ryan also actively participated in the updates of many Ethereum improvement proposals.

Industry VoicesWhat is a truly robust wallet security solution

△ Screenshot of Vitalik Buterin’s post on the X platform on February 28, 2025

On February 28, 2025, Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform: "The ecosystem needs to build a truly robust wallet security solution, not only to prevent theft, but also to consider how to deal with the risk of asset loss."

Previously, Vitalik Buterin has repeatedly discussed the importance of social recovery wallets, emphasizing the use of trusted contact mechanisms to enhance users' control over assets in order to reduce the risks of private key loss or theft.

AI + Human Collaborative Governance Model

On February 28, 2025, Vitalik Buterin discussed the issue of how AI can be integrated with the governance system in his blog post "AI as the Engine, Humans as the Steering Wheel", and proposed a model in which "AI handles data analysis, while humans provide strategic decisions." This approach aims to leverage the efficient computing power of AI while maintaining human judgment to avoid the risks that may arise from being completely dominated by AI.

△ Screenshot of Vitalik Buterin's blog post "AI as an engine, humans as the steering wheel"

"AI + Human" collaborative governance refers to combining AI's analytical capabilities with human decision-making capabilities to create a more efficient and sustainable governance model. Vitalik Buterin also proposed formulating policies through the "Futarchy economic model", which means formulating policies using market forecast results; or converting group opinions into executable AI instructions through "Distilled Human Judgment".

Vitalik Buterin also emphasized in this blog post that it is necessary to develop decentralized and open-source AI models to prevent technology from being monopolized by a few centralized entities and ensure that AI is an extension of human will rather than a replacement for human will.

Pectra Upgrade Status

Four test networks have been launched for the Ethereum Pectra upgrade so far, namely: the Mekong test network launched on November 7, 2024, the Holesky test network launched on February 24, 2025, the Sepolia test network launched on March 5, 2025, and the "Hoodi" test network launched on March 17, 2025.

The Ethereum Pectra upgrade encountered technical failures during the operation of the Sepolia testnet, which manifested as errors caused by abnormal configuration of the Deposit Contract and the phenomenon of empty block mining, which caused errors in some execution layer clients. The Ethereum development team has now fixed the vulnerability and pushed updates. The network has returned to normal after the validator node upgrade.

The launch of the Hoodi testnet is intended to address key issues faced by the Holeseky testnet, especially to solve the problem of congestion in the validator launch queue. If the testnet progresses smoothly, it is expected that the mainnet upgrade may be carried out as early as April 25, 2025.