Glossary
EIP-7251 (MaxEB)
An Ethereum upgrade (Pectra) that raises a validator's maximum effective balance from 32 to 2048 ETH — reduces validator-set bloat for large stakers.
EIP-7251, shipped as part of the Pectra hard fork in 2025, raises the maximum effective balance of an Ethereum validator from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH. Large stakers can now consolidate many 32-ETH validators into fewer, larger ones, dropping the total validator count substantially.
The upgrade reduces the consensus-layer's aggregation overhead and prepares the network for further scaling. Solo stakers retain the option to stay at the 32-ETH minimum; the increase is permissive, not forced.