Summary

Lighthouse v7.1.0 is a low-priority maintenance release containing several optimisations and new features.

• Hierarchical state diffs for hot state: 4x less disk I/O while running, and 10x less data on disk during non-finality.
• Optimised processing of Electra SingleAttestation messages.
• Removal of legacy eth1 deposit contract logic.
• Default gas limit of 45M.
• Broadcast of light client updates from nodes with validators in the current sync committee, improving availability on the gossip network.
• Pre-built binaries for Apple Silicon (M1, etc).

⚠️ Breaking Changes ⚠️

Upgrading to Lighthouse v7.1.0 should require no manual intervention for most users (aside from updating the binary/Docker image). However, some CLI flags have undergone changes.

See the sections below for details on other backwards-incompatible changes:

• Removed CLI flags
• Deprecated CLI flags
• Database schema upgrade
• Logfile format (for developers)
• Modified HTTP APIs (for developers)
• Bootnode configuration (for developers)

⚠️ Removed CLI flags ⚠️

The following CLI flags which were previously deprecated have been removed from the beacon node. If you are still using them you need to delete them in order to run v7.1.0:

• --eth1
• --dummy-eth1

In addition, the crit log level can no longer be provided to the flags --debug-level or --logfile-debug-level. We do not anticipate that this affects many users, as logging just CRITs is an extremely unusual configuration.

📢 Deprecated CLI flags 📢

The following CLI flags have been deprecated and will result in warning logs if provided. You do not have to remove them immediately, but they are no longer functional and will trigger an error in a future version:

• --logfile (replaced by --logfile-dir)
• --eth1-blocks-per-log-query
• --eth1-purge-cache
• --eth1-cache-follow-distance
• --disable-deposit-contract-sync

Database Schema Upgrade

The beacon node database schema has been updated from v22 to v26 in order to support hot hierarchical state diffs and the upcoming Fulu fork. An automatic database migration will be applied upon upgrading to v7.1.0, and requires no manual intervention.

If you wish to downgrade to v7.0.1 you will have to manually migrate the database to schema v22 following the instructions for Database Migrations.

Breaking Changes For Developers 💻

Logfile Format

Lighthouse's text logging format has been changed slightly as we upgrade to tracing. We have endeavoured to keep things as similar as possible, but you may notice some differences, and any custom log parsers may need to be adjusted. We recommend using JSON logs for automated analysis.

Modified HTTP APIs

• Removed deprecated POST /eth/v1/beacon/pool/attestations.
• Removed legacy Attestation support from POST /eth/v2/beacon/pool/attestations. Only SingleAttestations are now supported.
• Fixed handling of [] requests on the POST /eth/v1/beacon/states/{state_id}/validator_balances endpoint. See: #7474.

Bootnode Configuration

Lighthouse now uses the more standard bootstap_nodes.yaml filename for bootnodes instead of boot_enr.yaml. See: #6956

Hierarchical State Diffs

Lighthouse's database has undergone another major upgrade, with the application of our hierarchical state diff scheme to the hot database. The result is greatly reduced I/O during normal operation (~4x reduction) due to less data stored on disk. As a trade-off, a little more CPU time is spent computing diffs. Overall total block import times should remain similar, but the reduction in I/O should help reduce 2nd order slowdowns (e.g. competition with the EL for IOPS) and improve attestation accuracy.

In addition, Lighthouse's database is now much more well-suited to periods of non-finality -- Lighthouse nodes should no longer run out of disk space, even with multiple weeks of non-finality.

The hot DB uses the same hierarchy configuration as the freezer DB, which keeps things simple and also enables some nice optimisations (like not re-computing diffs). For information on diff config, see the Database Configuration section of the book.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

Lighthouse v7.1.0 is fully interoperable with Lighthouse v7.0.x, so you can update BN and VC separately.

All Changes

• Release v7.1.0 (#7609)
• Error from RPC send_response when request doesn't exist on the active inbound requests (#7663)
• Reintroduce --logfile with deprecation warning (#7723)
• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/stable' into release-v7.1.0
• Gossip recently computed light client data (#7023)
• Remove unneeded spans that caused debug logs to appear when level is set to info (#7707)
• Bump default gas limit (#7695)
• Fix lookups of the block at oldest_block_slot (#7693)
• Record v2 beacon blocks http api metrics separately (#7692)
• Fix and test checkpoint sync from genesis (#7689)
• Update fulu network configs and add MIN_EPOCHS_FOR_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECARS_REQUESTS (#7646)
• Use prepare_beacon_proposer endpoint for validator custody registration (#7681)
• Update SAMPLES_PER_SLOT to be number of custody groups instead of data columns (#7683)
• Custody persist fix (#7661)
• Add voluntary exit via validator manager (#6612)
• Test database schema stability (#7669)
• Add Michael as codeowner for store crate (#7667)
• Increase http client default timeout to 2s in http-api tests. (#7673)
• Bump DB schema to v25 (#7666)
• Fix beacon_chain metrics descriptions (#6576)
• feat: better error message for light_client/bootstrap endpoint (#7597)
• Fix incorrect waker update condition (#7656)
• Fix Rust 1.88 clippy errors & execution engine tests (#7657)
• Add gossip check (#7652)
• Do not compute sync selection proofs for the sync duty at the current slot (#7551)
• Rust 1.89 compiler lint fix (#7644)
• Remove instrumenting log level (#7636)
• Un-ignore EF test for v1.6.0-alpha.1 (#7632)
• Implement validator_identities Beacon API endpoint (#7462)
• Send byrange responses in the correct requested range (#7611)
• Allow the --beacon-nodes list to be updated at runtime (#6551)
• Remove all prod eth1 related code (#7133)
• Remove instrumenting log level (#7620)
• Remove reprocess channel (#7437)
• Hierarchical state diffs in hot DB (#6750)
• Single attestation "Full" implementation (#7444)
• Advertise --advertise-false-custody-group-count for testing PeerDAS (#7593)
• Add data columns sidecars debug beacon API (#7591)
• Add more context to Late Block Re-orgs (#7592)
• Fix flaky test_rpc_block_reprocessing (#7595)
• Wait before column reconstruction (#7588)
• Drop stale registrations without reducing CGC (#7594)
• Batch verify KZG proofs for getBlobsV2 (#7582)
• Implement status v2 version (#7590)
• Implement basic validator custody framework (no backfill) (#7578)
• Data column sidecar event (#7587)
• Add genesis sync test to CI (#7561)
• Optimise parallelism in compute cells operations by zipping first (#7574)
• Changes for fusaka-devnet-1 (#7559)
• Store the libp2p/discv5 logs when stopping local-testnet (#7579)
• Reduce number of basic sim test nodes from 7 to 4 (#7566)
• Update kurtosis config and EL images (#7570)
• Add support for nightly tests (#7538)
• Don't create child lookup if parent is faulty (#7118)
• Add e2e sync tests to CI (#7530)
• Update key generation in validator manager (#7548)
• Fulu EF tests v1.6.0-alpha.0 (#7540)
• Checkpoint sync without the blobs from Fulu (#7549)
• Add a name to the Tokio task (#7544)
• Update staking-deposit-cli to ethstaker-deposit-cli (#7518)
• Implement EIP-7892 BPO hardforks (#7521)
• Fix unexpected blob error and duplicate import in fetch blobs (#7541)
• Run Assertoor tests in CI (#6882)
• Add console-subscriber feature for debugging (#7529)
• simulator: Fix Failed to initialize dependency logging (#7393)
• Prevent AvailabilityCheckError when there's no new custody columns to import (#7533)
• Mitigate flakiness in test_delayed_rpc_response (#7522)
• Remove support for database migrations prior to schema version v22 (#7332)
• Merge pull request #7525 from jimmygchen/mergify-again
• Remove redundant and
• Fix condition
• Enable arithmetic lint in rate-limiter (#7025)
• Update mergify rules so that I can add waiting-on-author on a PR that's passing CI. Remove noisy comments.
• Handle attestation validation errors (#7382)
• Verify getBlobsV2 response and avoid reprocessing imported data columns (#7493)
• Update engine_getBlobsV2 response type and add getBlobsV2 tests (#7505)
• Fix formatting errors from cargo-sort (#7512)
• Publish EL Info in Metrics (#7052)
• Ensure logfile permissions are maintained after rotation (#7246)
• Improve log readability during rpc_tests (#7180)
• Revive network-test logs files in CI (#7459)
• Send execution_requests in fulu (#7500)
• Enable stdout logging in rpc_tests (#7506)
• Use slice.is_sorted now that it's stable (#7507)
• Update mergify rule to not evaluate PRs that are not ready for review - to reduce noise and avoid updating stale PRs. (#7494)
• Move notifier and latency service to validator_services (#7427)
• Pass blobs into ValidatorStore::sign_block (#7497)
• Fix bl...

Summary

This release includes the fork epoch for Electra ⚡ on Mainnet 🎉

v7.0.1 is a hotfix for the increased number of state cache misses reported following the v7.0.0 release last week.

If you have not yet upgraded to v7.0.0, it is recommended to upgrade straight to v7.0.1. These release notes also describe all of the changes in v7.0.0.

As a reminder, all mainnet users must upgrade to either v7.0.1 or v7.0.0 by the time of the fork on 7 May 2025. You must also update your execution client (e.g. Geth, Nethermind, Erigon, Besu or Reth).

⚠️ Breaking Changes ⚠️

You can upgrade to v7.0.1 from any v5 or v6 release. If you are upgrading from v5 you should make sure to read the v6 release notes to account for breaking changes between v5 and v6.

Upgrading to Lighthouse v7.0.1 should require no manual intervention aside from updating the binary or Docker image, as there are no changes to CLI flags that will prevent the node from starting. Mainnet users must upgrade before the Electra fork. Failure to upgrade in time will require a re-sync.

Once you upgrade to Lighthouse v7.0.1, you can downgrade to v6, but only prior to the Electra fork.

See the sections below for details on other backwards-incompatible changes:

• Deprecated CLI flags
• Minimum supported Rust version
• IPv6 by default
• Gas limit enforcement

⚠️ Deprecated CLI Flags ⚠️

The following beacon node flags have been deprecated. You should remove them, but the beacon node will still start if they are provided.

• --light-client-server

🦀 Minimum Supported Rust Version 🦀

We have updated the Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) for this release from 1.80.0 to 1.83.0.

This is only relevant to users compiling Lighthouse from source.

You can update your Rust compiler using:

rustup update stable

IPv6 by Default

Lighthouse will now automatically listen on IPv6 if it detects a globally-routable address. We expect for the majority of users with IPv4-only setups that this change will have no effect, but that it will benefit users with correctly configured IPv6 stacks.

The default IPv6 listening port has been changed from port 9090 to port 9000 (same as IPv4) to make firewalling easier. The IPv6 port can be adjusted using the flag --port6.

You can opt-out of IPv6 by using the flag--listen-address 0.0.0.0 to only listen on IPv4.

For more information, see the Lighthouse blog:

• https://blog.sigmaprime.io/lighthouse-ipv6.html

Gas Limit Enforcement

Lighthouse BN now enforces gas limit preferences when validating execution payloads from external builders (e.g. mev-boost relays). You can configure the gas limit for all validators connected to a VC using --gas-limit, or set individual limits in the validator_definitions.yml, or using the VC HTTP API.

⚡ Electra ⚡

The Electra hard fork, paired with the Prague hard fork on the execution layer – together known as Pectra – brings several new features to Ethereum.

The headline change is known as Max EB, and raises the maximum effective balance a single validator may wield from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH. Once adopted, this will allow the network to run more efficiently with a lower validator count, while retaining the same level of security. Max EB even removes some centralisation vectors from staking incentives so that solo validators are able to tap into the compounding rewards previously enjoyed exclusively by large operators.

The process of switching a validator's max effective balance is a consolidation, which transfers stake from one validator to another. Consolidations are triggered via a smart contract call, and are fully opt-in and voluntary. If you are a solo operator with a small number of validators, there is no need to consolidate, although you may choose to do so.

Information about consolidation tooling has been added to the Lighthouse book:

• https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/validator_consolidation.html

Bug Fixes

State Cache Misses

A number of users reported seeing an increased number of state cache misses following the update to v7.0.0:

Apr 30 15:45:30.000 WARN State cache missed

We have restored the state cache size to 128 in order to reduce cache misses, and will continue optimising the cache for non-finality. See the issue for details: #7363

Bugfix for InsufficientPeers

Both v7.0.1 and v7.0.0 include a bugfix for a regression in attestation subscription logic, resolving InsufficientPeers errors.

New Features

• Electra fork epoch for Gnosis chain.
• Light client server enabled by default.
• Support for a new database backend, redb. This is still experimental and only reccommended for expert users.
• New API to add trusted peers at runtime (#7198).
• Full Hoodi testnet support (--network hoodi).

Optimisations

• Smarter state cache heuristics.
• More efficient serving of BlocksByRange/BlobsByRange during non-finality.

Known Issues

There are few minor issues being investigated.

• Some users report their lighthouse vc processes seizing up and becoming unresponsive. A workaround for this issue is to run a script that regularly polls the validator client HTTP API, e.g. while sleep 5; do curl -s --fail "http://localhost:5062/lighthouse/auth" > /dev/null && echo "polled at $(date)"; done. This requires enabling the HTTP API on the validator client using the flag --http. See the Lighthouse book for more information: https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/api_vc.html. There is a tracking issue for this bug here: #7403.
• The light client server will log ERRO error computing light_client updates LightClientUpdateError(BeaconStateError(IncorrectStateVariant)) at the fork until the transition epoch is finalized. This is harmless (albeit annoying) as Lighthouse's light client server is non-essential for validating, and this issue has no negative impact on performance.
• An error log is incorrectly emitted for certain types of invalid attestations received from peers: ERRO Unable to validate attestation error: AttestationValidationError(BeaconStateError(EmptyCommittee)). These attestations are the fault of the peers producing them, but Lighthouse incorrectly assumes an internal fault and does not penalise the peers. We do not have time to fix this before the fork, but the impact should be minimal. A fix will be included in the next Lighthouse release. The invalid attestations have been identified to come from Caplin (Erigon consensus client), see: erigontech/erigon#14830.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

Update priority is Low if you have already updated to v7.0.0.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

Compatible Execution Clients

You must update both the consensus client (Lighthouse) and execution client to be ready for Pectra.

All Changes

• Release v7.0.1 (#7374)
• Change default state cache size back to 128 (#7364)

• Release v7.0.0 (#7288)
• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/stable' into release-v7.0.0
• Release v7.0.0-beta.7 (#7333)
• Update proposer_slashings and attester_slashings amounts for electra. (#7316)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.6
• Update withdrawals processing (spec v1.5.0-beta.6)
• Ensure /eth/v2/beacon/pool/attestations honors committee_index (#7298)
• Ensure light_client/updates endpoint returns spec compliant SSZ data (#7230)
• Update crossbeam to fix cargo audit failure (#7313)
• Gnosis Pectra fork epoch (#7296)
• Update and cleanup Electra preset (#7303)
• Downgrade light client errors (#7300)
• Add pending_consolidations Beacon API endpoint (#7290)
• Remove/document remaining Electra TODOs (#6982)
• Clarify network limits (#7175)
• Fix builder API electra json response (#7285)
• Mainnet Electra fork epoch (#7275)
• Return eth1_data early post transition (#7248)
• Compute roots for unfinalized by_range requests with fork-choice (#7098)
• Bump openssl to fix cargo audit failure (#7263)
• Rust 1.86.0 lints (#7254)
• feat: add more bootnodes for Hoodi and Sepolia (#7222)
• Consensus spec tests beta4 (#7231)
• Disable LevelDB snappy feature (#7235)
• Admin add/remove peer (#7198)
• Top-up pubkey cache on startup (#7217)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.5 (#7210)
• Fix xdelta3 output buffer issue (#7174)
• Prevent duplicate effective balance processing (#7209)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.4 (#7162)
• Update ring to 0.17.14 to fix build compat (#7164)
• Reject attestations to blocks prior to the split (#7084)
• Manual compaction endpoint backport (#7104)
• Pseudo finalization endp...

Summary

This releases includes the fork epoch for Electra ⚡ on Mainnet 🎉

All mainnet users must upgrade to v7.0.0 by the time of the fork on 7 May 2025. You must also update your execution client (see compatible versions below).

This release also includes several new features, bug fixes and optimisations.

⚠️ Breaking Changes ⚠️

You can upgrade to v7.0.0 from any v5 or v6 release. If you are upgrading from v5 you should make sure to read the v6 release notes to account for breaking changes between v5 and v6.

Upgrading to Lighthouse v7.0.0 should require no manual intervention aside from updating the binary or Docker image, as there are no changes to CLI flags that will prevent the node from starting. Mainnet users must upgrade before the Electra fork. Failure to upgrade in time will require a re-sync.

Once you upgrade to Lighthouse v7.0.0, you can downgrade to v6, but only prior to the Electra fork.

See the sections below for details on other backwards-incompatible changes:

• Deprecated CLI flags
• Minimum supported Rust version
• IPv6 by default
• Gas limit enforcement

⚠️ Deprecated CLI Flags ⚠️

The following beacon node flags have been deprecated. You should remove them, but the beacon node will still start if they are provided.

• --light-client-server

🦀 Minimum Supported Rust Version 🦀

We have updated the Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) for this release from 1.80.0 to 1.83.0.

This is only relevant to users compiling Lighthouse from source.

You can update your Rust compiler using:

rustup update stable

IPv6 by Default

Lighthouse will now automatically listen on IPv6 if it detects a globally-routable address. We expect for the majority of users with IPv4-only setups that this change will have no effect, but that it will benefit users with correctly configured IPv6 stacks.

The default IPv6 listening port has been changed from port 9090 to port 9000 (same as IPv4) to make firewalling easier. The IPv6 port can be adjusted using the flag --port6.

You can opt-out of IPv6 by using the flag--listen-address 0.0.0.0 to only listen on IPv4.

For more information, see the Lighthouse blog:

• https://blog.sigmaprime.io/lighthouse-ipv6.html

Gas Limit Enforcement

Lighthouse BN now enforces gas limit preferences when validating execution payloads from external builders (e.g. mev-boost relays). You can configure the gas limit for all validators connected to a VC using --gas-limit, or set individual limits in the validator_definitions.yml, or using the VC HTTP API.

⚡ Electra ⚡

The Electra hard fork, paired with the Prague hard fork on the execution layer – together known as Pectra – brings several new features to Ethereum.

The headline change is known as Max EB, and raises the maximum effective balance a single validator may wield from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH. Once adopted, this will allow the network to run more efficiently with a lower validator count, while retaining the same level of security. Max EB even removes some centralisation vectors from staking incentives so that solo validators are able to tap into the compounding rewards previously enjoyed exclusively by large operators.

The process of switching a validator's max effective balance is a consolidation, which transfers stake from one validator to another. Consolidations are triggered via a smart contract call, and are fully opt-in and voluntary. If you are a solo operator with a small number of validators, there is no need to consolidate, although you may choose to do so.

Information about consolidation tooling has been added to the Lighthouse book:

• https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/validator_consolidation.html

Bug Fixes

• Bugfix for a regression in attestation subscription logic, resolving InsufficientPeers errors.

New Features

• Electra fork epoch for Gnosis chain.
• Light client server enabled by default.
• Support for a new database backend, redb. This is still experimental and only reccommended for expert users.
• New API to add trusted peers at runtime (#7198).
• Full Hoodi testnet support (--network hoodi).

Optimisations

• Smaller default state cache size (32) to keep memory constrained during non-finality.
• Smarter state cache heuristics.
• More efficient serving of BlocksByRange/BlobsByRange during non-finality.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

Compatible Execution Clients

You must update both the consensus client (Lighthouse) and execution client to be ready for Pectra.

Known Issues

Due to the reduced state cache size, you may see an increase in WARN State cache missed logs. This is harmless and can be safely ignored. These state cache misses will be downgraded to DEBUG level in the next release. In a future release the pruning code will also be adjusted so that these cache misses can't be triggered during pruning (which is the source of the majority of cache misses currently).

If you are running a node with services connected to the HTTP API (e.g. Rocket Pool rewards generation, a block explorer, etc) we recommend setting a higher value for --state-cache-size, e.g. 128.

All Changes

• Release v7.0.0 (#7288)
• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/stable' into release-v7.0.0
• Release v7.0.0-beta.7 (#7333)
• Update proposer_slashings and attester_slashings amounts for electra. (#7316)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.6
• Update withdrawals processing (spec v1.5.0-beta.6)
• Ensure /eth/v2/beacon/pool/attestations honors committee_index (#7298)
• Ensure light_client/updates endpoint returns spec compliant SSZ data (#7230)
• Update crossbeam to fix cargo audit failure (#7313)
• Gnosis Pectra fork epoch (#7296)
• Update and cleanup Electra preset (#7303)
• Downgrade light client errors (#7300)
• Add pending_consolidations Beacon API endpoint (#7290)
• Remove/document remaining Electra TODOs (#6982)
• Clarify network limits (#7175)
• Fix builder API electra json response (#7285)
• Mainnet Electra fork epoch (#7275)
• Return eth1_data early post transition (#7248)
• Compute roots for unfinalized by_range requests with fork-choice (#7098)
• Bump openssl to fix cargo audit failure (#7263)
• Rust 1.86.0 lints (#7254)
• feat: add more bootnodes for Hoodi and Sepolia (#7222)
• Consensus spec tests beta4 (#7231)
• Disable LevelDB snappy feature (#7235)
• Admin add/remove peer (#7198)
• Top-up pubkey cache on startup (#7217)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.5 (#7210)
• Fix xdelta3 output buffer issue (#7174)
• Prevent duplicate effective balance processing (#7209)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.4 (#7162)
• Update ring to 0.17.14 to fix build compat (#7164)
• Reject attestations to blocks prior to the split (#7084)
• Manual compaction endpoint backport (#7104)
• Pseudo finalization endpoint (#7103)
• Support Hoodi testnet (#7145)
• State cache tweaks (#7095)
• Add block ban flag --invalid-block-roots (#7042)
• Ensure finalized block is the correct fork variant when constructing light client updates (#7085)
• feat: implement new beacon APIs(accessors for pending_deposits/pending_partial_withdrawals) (#7006)
• Address cargo audit failure RUSTSEC-2024-0437 (#7114)
• Set epochs-per-blob-prune default to 256 (#7113)
• Change state cache size default to 32 (#7101)
• Address cargo audit failure RUSTSEC-2025-0009 (#7086)
• Optimise status processing (#7082)
• Temporarily ignore cargo audit failures (#7092)
• Use sync_tolerance_epochs flag to control the proposer prep routines (#7044)
• Schedule Chiado testnet Electra hard fork (#7074)
• Make ExecutionBlock::total_difficulty Optional (#7050)
• Add --long-timeouts-multiplier CLI flag (#7047)
• Add --disable-attesting flag to validator client (#7046)
• Add test flag to override SYNC_TOLERANCE_EPOCHS for range sync testing (#7030)
• Fix builder API headers (#7009)
• Rust 1.85 lints (#7019)
• Fix light client merkle proofs (#7007)
• Update mergify conditions for trivial and ready-for-merge labels to satisfy if base is not stable (#6997)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.0 (#6962)
• Fix light client plumbing in beacon processor (#6993)
• Ensure GET v2/validator/aggregate_attestation is backwards compatible (#6984)
• Address cargo audit failure RUSTSEC-2025-0006 (#6972)
• IPv6 By Default (#6808)
• Update EF tests to spec v1.5.0-beta.2 (#6958)
• Sync active request byrange ids logs (#6914)
• Enable Light Client server by default (#6950)
• Schedule Sepolia and Holesky Electra forks (#6949)
• Update attestation rewards API for Electra (#6819)
• Fix aggregate attestation v2 re...

DO NOT RUN THIS PRE-RELEASE ON MAINNET

Summary

This release is a hotfix release for Electra-enabled test networks: Sepolia, Holesky, Hoodi and Chiado. Users on these networks should update at their earliest convenience. More information about the patched bug will be available shortly.

If you have already updated to v7.0.0-beta.6, there is no need to update.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities more information about this table.

All Changes

• Release v7.0.0-beta.7 (#7333)
• Update proposer_slashings and attester_slashings amounts for electra. (#7316)
• Release v7.0.0-beta.6
• Update withdrawals processing (spec v1.5.0-beta.6)
• Ensure /eth/v2/beacon/pool/attestations honors committee_index (#7298)
• Ensure light_client/updates endpoint returns spec compliant SSZ data (#7230)
• Update crossbeam to fix cargo audit failure (#7313)
• Gnosis Pectra fork epoch (#7296)
• Update and cleanup Electra preset (#7303)
• Downgrade light client errors (#7300)
• Add pending_consolidations Beacon API endpoint (#7290)
• Remove/document remaining Electra TODOs (#6982)
• Clarify network limits (#7175)
• Fix builder API electra json response (#7285)
• Mainnet Electra fork epoch (#7275)
• Return eth1_data early post transition (#7248)
• Compute roots for unfinalized by_range requests with fork-choice (#7098)
• Bump openssl to fix cargo audit failure (#7263)
• Rust 1.86.0 lints (#7254)
• feat: add more bootnodes for Hoodi and Sepolia (#7222)
• Consensus spec tests beta4 (#7231)
• Disable LevelDB snappy feature (#7235)
• Admin add/remove peer (#7198)
• Top-up pubkey cache on startup (#7217)

Binaries

See pre-built binaries documentation.

The binaries are signed with Sigma Prime's PGP key: 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

System	Architecture	Binary	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.7-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.7-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	aarch64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.7-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.7-x86_64-windows.tar.gz	PGP Signature
System	Option	-	Resource
	Docker	v7.0.0-beta.7	sigp/lighthouse

DO NOT RUN THIS PRE-RELEASE ON MAINNET

Summary

This is a high-priority bugfix release for all Electra testnets: Sepolia, Holesky, Hoodi and Chiado. You should update to this release as soon as possible, especially if you are running a large number of validators on one of these networks.

There is no impact on mainnet, and mainnet users should remain on v6.0.1.

Breaking Changes

There are no breaking changes in this release.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities more information about this table.

All Changes

• Release v7.0.0-beta.5 (#7210)
• Fix xdelta3 output buffer issue (#7174)
• Prevent duplicate effective balance processing (#7209)

Binaries

See pre-built binaries documentation.

The binaries are signed with Sigma Prime's PGP key: 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

System	Architecture	Binary	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.5-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.5-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	aarch64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.5-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.5-x86_64-windows.tar.gz	PGP Signature
System	Option	-	Resource
	Docker	v7.0.0-beta.5	sigp/lighthouse

DO NOT RUN THIS PRE-RELEASE ON MAINNET

This release contains a bug and we strongly recommend upgrading to v7.0.0-beta.5.

Summary

This new beta release brings support for the Hoodi testnet, and cleaned up versions of the fixes made to keep Holesky running.

It is recommended for all testnets: Sepolia, Holesky, Hoodi and Chiado (Gnosis testnet).

This release will form the basis of the upcoming stable v7.0.0 release for Pectra on mainnet, so your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Breaking Changes

There are no breaking changes introduced by this release.

Known Issues

This release contains a bug and we recommend upgrading to v7.0.0-beta.5.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

All Changes

• Release v7.0.0-beta.4 (#7162)
• Update ring to 0.17.14 to fix build compat (#7164)
• Reject attestations to blocks prior to the split (#7084)
• Manual compaction endpoint backport (#7104)
• Pseudo finalization endpoint (#7103)
• Support Hoodi testnet (#7145)
• State cache tweaks (#7095)
• Add block ban flag --invalid-block-roots (#7042)
• Ensure finalized block is the correct fork variant when constructing light client updates (#7085)
• feat: implement new beacon APIs(accessors for pending_deposits/pending_partial_withdrawals) (#7006)
• Address cargo audit failure RUSTSEC-2024-0437 (#7114)
• Set epochs-per-blob-prune default to 256 (#7113)
• Change state cache size default to 32 (#7101)
• Address cargo audit failure RUSTSEC-2025-0009 (#7086)
• Optimise status processing (#7082)
• Temporarily ignore cargo audit failures (#7092)
• Use sync_tolerance_epochs flag to control the proposer prep routines (#7044)
• Schedule Chiado testnet Electra hard fork (#7074)
• Make ExecutionBlock::total_difficulty Optional (#7050)
• Add --long-timeouts-multiplier CLI flag (#7047)
• Add --disable-attesting flag to validator client (#7046)
• Add test flag to override SYNC_TOLERANCE_EPOCHS for range sync testing (#7030)
• Fix builder API headers (#7009)
• Rust 1.85 lints (#7019)
• Fix light client merkle proofs (#7007)

Binaries

See pre-built binaries documentation.

The binaries are signed with Sigma Prime's PGP key: 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

System	Architecture	Binary	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.4-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.4-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	aarch64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.4-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.4-x86_64-windows.tar.gz	PGP Signature
System	Option	-	Resource
	Docker	v7.0.0-beta.4	sigp/lighthouse

DO NOT RUN THIS PRE-RELEASE ON MAINNET

Summary

This is another hotfix for Holesky fixing a bug introduced in v7.0.0-beta.2. The bug caused nodes to get stuck after Holesky finalized again. This release is recommended over v7.0.0-beta.2 for all nodes running on Holesky.

Alternatively, users may checkpoint sync using v7.0.0-beta.0 with --state-cache-size 32, although this may become unstable if finality lapses again.

We are working on further testing and stabilising the hotfixes for the final v7.0.0 release and may release a new beta before then. Thank you for your patience.

All Changes

• Release v7.0.0-beta.3
• Fix descent from split check (#7105)

Binaries

See pre-built binaries documentation.

The binaries are signed with Sigma Prime's PGP key: 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

System	Architecture	Binary	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.3-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.3-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	aarch64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.3-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.3-x86_64-windows.tar.gz	PGP Signature
System	Option	-	Resource
	Docker	v7.0.0-beta.3	sigp/lighthouse

⚠️ This release contains a known bug which can cause nodes to get stuck. If you are running on Holesky, v7.0.0-beta.3 is recommended instead ⚠️

💡 Mainnet users can ignore this pre-release.

Summary

This is a second hot-fix release for the unsuccessful Electra upgrade on Holesky in February 2025. It contains patches to help reduce memory usage during non-finality, and to help nodes sync.

This release is only for Holesky users. Do not use this version on mainnet, Sepolia, or any other network.

Please see our informational issue for up-to-date advice on the Holesky situation: #7040

Forced Pseudo-Finalization

This release includes an experimental feature to forcefully "finalize" a block in Lighthouse's database so that Lighthouse can prune low-quality sidechains, remove finalized states and reclaim disk space. This feature is not safe in general, and should not be used except in emergencies.

Usage of the endpoint requires an epoch, block_root and state_root to pseudo-finalize, which must be from an epoch boundary. Skipped slots are OK, but the state_root must be the state_root of the epoch boundary state.

An example command to force pseudo-finalization on Holesky is:

curl -X POST --data '{"epoch": "117400", "state_root": "0x355fa23c9704fe346362c43a8fe43fba464fe63f20853bd3a87a8f465d52b4f4", "block_root": "0x06d788e593fd2b5b6fb6dcd63dfa4766201f05d948923dff6865d823246dd3c7" }' http://localhost:5052/lighthouse/finalize

If successful you should see a lot of logs of the form Pruning head, and then after some time (possibly multiple hours if your node knows all of the 800+ Holesky heads), it will complete. Completion is indicated via the debug log DEBG Database consolidation complete (look in $datadir/beacon/logs/beacon.log), and an update to the split field in the /lighthouse/database/info API.

Compaction will likely run after forced finalization, which is what reclaims the space permanently. If started you will see the log:

INFO Starting database compaction

When it completes (likely after ~1hr), you will see the log:

INFO Database compaction complete

If the finalization completes without compaction, you can trigger a manual compaction using the HTTP API:

curl -X POST http://localhost:5052/lighthouse/compaction

State Cache Tweaks

We've tweaked how old states interact with the state cache, removing several paths for state cache misses, and bad state cache interactions caused by BlocksByRange requests, sidechains and attestations to ancient blocks.

All of these optimisations are automatic and require no action from users to benefit. If you are feeling adventurous we've also found some benefit from using a new flag --state-cache-headroom 8, which prunes the state cache more aggressively (removing 8 states) when it gets full.

You may notice backtraces present in the State cache missed logs. These are harmless and do not indicate a fatal error. We added them to aid in debugging.

New HTTP endpoint lighthouse/add_peer to add trusted peer

This endpoint allows users to add a trusted peer to the peer database and dials it every heartbeat in case it gracefully disconnects. This is useful if the node struggles to find peers on the canonical chain. This can be used together with the --disable-discovery flag to limit the peers the node dials to speed up syncing to the right chain.

An example command to add a trusted peer:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"enr": "enr:-Le4QLoE1wFHSlGcm48a9ZESb_MRLqPPu6G0vHqu4MaUcQNDHS69tsy-zkN0K6pglyzX8m24mkb-LtBcbjAYdP1uxm4BhGV0aDKQabfZdAQBcAAAAQAAAAAAAIJpZIJ2NIJpcIQ5gR6Wg2lwNpAgAUHQBwEQAAAAAAAAADR-iXNlY3AyNTZrMaEDPMSNdcL92uNIyCsS177Z6KTXlbZakQqxv3aQcWawNXeDdWRwgiMohHVkcDaCI4I"}' http://localhost:5052/lighthouse/add_peer

⚠️ Breaking Changes ⚠️

You should only upgrade to v7.0.0-beta.2 from v7.0.0-beta.{0,1} on Holesky. This release contains no breaking changes compared to v7.0.0-beta.1.

Please see the release notes for previous v7 releases for a summary of changes included in those releases:

• https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/releases/tag/v7.0.0-beta.1
• https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/releases/tag/v7.0.0-beta.0

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

Testnet users should update both the Lighthouse VC and BN to v7.0.0-beta.2 if using separate binaries. The execution layer client (e.g. Geth, Reth, Besu, Nethermind, Erigon) must also be updated prior to the Electra fork.

All Changes

• Bump version to v7.0.0-beta.2 (#7073)
• Manual compaction endpoint (#7072)
• Add CI fixes to holesky-rescue (#7071)
• Add http endpoint to add trusted peer (#7068)
• Add backtrace logging. (#7063)
• Prevent writing to state cache when migrating the database (#7067)
• Split block root lookups between fork choice and store on BBR response (#7066)
• Revert "Reuse milhouse subtrees to shrink inactivity_scores in memory (#7062)"
• Reuse milhouse subtrees to shrink inactivity_scores in memory (#7062)
• Manual finalization endpoint (#7059)
• Change state cache size default to 32. (#7055)
• Load block roots from fork choice where possible when serving BlocksByRange requests (#7058)
• Optimise status processing for holesky-rescue (#7054)

Binaries

See pre-built binaries documentation.

The binaries are signed with Sigma Prime's PGP key: 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

System	Architecture	Binary	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.2-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.2-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	aarch64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.2-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.2-x86_64-windows.tar.gz	PGP Signature
System	Option	-	Resource
	Docker	v7.0.0-beta.2	sigp/lighthouse

Summary

This is a hot-fix release for the unsuccessful Electra upgrade on Holesky in February 2025. It contains patches to help users avoid the invalid justified Holesky block and handle the resulting network turmoil (#7041).

This release is only for Holeksy users. Do not use this version on mainnet.

Please see our informational issue for up-to-date advice on the Holesky situation: #7040

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

Do not use this version on mainnet

See Update Priorities more information about this table.

All Changes

• Bump version
• discard unused code
• take config value
• Bump sync-tolerance-epoch and make it a cli param
• Add vc --disable-attesting flag
• Ban peers with banned payloads
• Add log
• Blacklist invalid block root in block verification and blacklist invalid finalized epochs in sync.
• Blacklist invalid block root in block verification and blacklist invalid finalized epochs in sync.
• MORE
• Allow invalidation of "valid" nodes
• Implement invalidation API
• Remove more liveness risks
• lcli http-sync hacks
• Disable liveness risk
• Fix flag
• Add flag to disable attestation APIs
• Fix builder API headers (#7009)
• Rust 1.85 lints (#7019)
• Fix light client merkle proofs (#7007)

Binaries

See pre-built binaries documentation.

The binaries are signed with Sigma Prime's PGP key: 15E66D941F697E28F49381F426416DC3F30674B0

System	Architecture	Binary	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.1-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	aarch64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.1-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz	PGP Signature
	x86_64	lighthouse-v7.0.0-beta.1-x86_64-windows.tar.gz	PGP Signature
System	Option	-	Resource
	Docker	v7.0.0-beta.1	sigp/lighthouse

💡 Mainnet users can ignore this pre-release.

Summary

This beta release is high-priority for users on Holesky and Sepolia. It is a required upgrade for the upcoming Electra hard forks on these testnets.

• Electra on Holesky: Mon 24 Feb 2025 21:55:12 UTC. Slot 3710976.
• Electra on Sepolia: Wed 5 Mar 2025 07:29:36 UTC. Slot 7118848.

If you are running Lighthouse on a testnet, you must also upgrade your execution layer client to a Prague-Electra (Pectra) compatible release.

The Electra upgrade has not yet been scheduled on mainnet, so no action is required for mainnet users (do not upgrade).

Notable changes in Lighthouse v7.0.0-beta.0 include:

• IPv6 enabled by default when a globally-routable IPv6 address is configured.
• Light client server enabled by default.
• Bugfix for a regression in attestation subscription logic.
• Support for a new database backend, redb.

⚠️ Breaking Changes ⚠️

You can upgrade to v7.0.0-beta.0 from any v5 or v6 release. If you are upgrading from v5 you should make sure to read the v6 release notes to account for breaking changes between v5 and v6.

Upgrading to Lighthouse v7.0.0-beta.0 should be automatic for all users, as there are no changes to CLI flags that will prevent the node from starting. Holesky and Sepolia users must upgrade before the Electra fork. Failure to upgrade in time will require a re-sync.

Once you upgrade to Lighthouse v7.0.0-beta.0, you can downgrade to v6, but only prior to the Electra fork.

⚠️ Deprecated CLI Flags ⚠️

The following beacon node flags have been deprecated. You should remove them, but the beacon node will still start if they are provided.

• --light-client-server

IPv6 by Default

Lighthouse will now automatically listen on IPv6 if it detects a globally-routable address. We expect for the majority of users with IPv4-only setups that this change will have no effect, but that it will benefit users with correctly configured IPv6 stacks.

The default IPv6 listening port has been changed from port 9090 to port 9000 (same as IPv4) to make firewalling easier. The IPv6 port can be adjusted using the flag --port6.

You can opt-out of IPv6 by using the flag --listen-address 0.0.0.0 to only listen on IPv4.

For more information, see the implementation PR:

• #6808

🦀 Minimum Supported Rust Version 🦀

We have updated the Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) for this release from 1.80.0 to 1.83.0.

This is only relevant to users compiling Lighthouse from source.

You can update your Rust compiler using:

rustup update stable

⚡ Electra ⚡

The Electra hard fork, paired with the Prague hard fork on the execution layer – together known as Pectra – brings several new features to Ethereum.

The headline change is known as Max EB, and raises the maximum effective balance a single validator may wield from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH. Once adopted, this will allow the network to run more efficiently with a lower validator count, while retaining the same level of security. Max EB even removes some centralisation vectors from staking incentives so that solo validators are able to tap into the compounding rewards previously enjoyed exclusively by large operators.

The process of switching a validator's max effective balance is a consolidation, which transfers stake from one validator to another. Consolidations are triggered via a smart contract call, and are fully opt-in and voluntary. If you are a solo operator with a small number of validators, there is no need to consolidate, although you may choose to do so.

We expect the tooling and documentation for consolidations to mature as Electra on mainnet approaches. We have plans of our own to update the Lighthouse UI (Siren) with consolidation support, and will make an announcement when that is ready.

Light Client Server

We have enabled the Light Client Server by default 🎉. Our implementation has reached a stage of maturity and performance where we feel comfortable rolling it out by default. It should result in negligible changes to bandwidth, CPU usage, memory and disk I/O for users.

The light client protocol allows very lightweight clients and devices to interact with Ethereum, and we are excited to see how the ecosystem evolves with more widespread protocol support.

You can opt-out of the light client server using --disable-light-client-server.

Attestation Subscription Fix

A fix was made to the beacon node's attestation subscription logic which could lead to under-subscription and issues publishing aggregate attestations. This has been addressed in the following PR:

• #6890

New Database Backends

A new database backend is available in the form of redb. This is a pure-Rust database, with nice ACID properties. We hope to modernise and optimise our database usage around redb in the coming months.

For now, redb is performing slightly worse than LevelDB for some operations, and is only recommended for expert users and tinkerers. You can opt-in using --beacon-node-backend redb. This won't make use of any existing LevelDB database, nor will it delete it, so you should delete your LevelDB database manually and then checkpoint sync if you would like to switch.

🐛 Known Issues 🐛

There are no known issues at the time of writing.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

Testnet users should update both the Lighthouse VC and BN to v7.0.0-beta.0 if using separate binaries. The execution layer client (e.g. Geth, Reth, Besu, Nethermind, Erigon) must also be updated prior to the Electra fork.

All changes

• Release v7.0.0-beta.0 (#6962)
• Fix light client plumbing in beacon processor (#6993)
• Ensure GET v2/validator/aggregate_attestation is backwards compatible (#6984)
• Address cargo audit failure RUSTSEC-2025-0006 (#6972)
• IPv6 By Default (#6808)
• Update EF tests to spec v1.5.0-beta.2 (#6958)
• Sync active request byrange ids logs (#6914)
• Enable Light Client server by default (#6950)
• Schedule Sepolia and Holesky Electra forks (#6949)
• Update attestation rewards API for Electra (#6819)
• Fix aggregate attestation v2 response (#6926)
• Remove duplicated fork_epoch and fork_version implementation (#6953)
• Optimise and refine SingleAttestation conversion (#6934)
• Fix fetch blobs in all-null case (#6940)
• Keep execution payload during historical backfill when prune-payloads set to false (#6766)
• Remove un-used batch sync error condition (#6917)
• Remove unused metrics (#6817)
• Reduce ForkName boilerplate in fork-context (#6933)
• Use old geth version due to breaking changes. (#6936)
• Fix attestation queue length metric (#6924)
• Update metrics.rs (#6863)
• Add individual by_range sync requests (#6497)
• Return error if getBlobs not supported (#6911)
• Add test to beacon node fallback feature (#6568)
• Add check to Lockbud CI job (#6898)
• UX Network Fixes (#6796)
• chore: update peerDAS KZG library to 0.5.3 (#6906)
• Migrate validator client to clap derive (#6300)
• Use data column batch verification consistently (#6851)
• Add builder SSZ flow (#6859)
• Subscribe to PeerDAS topics on Fulu fork (#6849)
• Fix subnet unsubscription time (#6890)
• Cargo update for openssl vuln (#6901)
• update libp2p to 0.55 (#6889)
• update MSRV (#6896)
• Compute columns in post-PeerDAS checkpoint sync (#6760)
• Fix mdbook build. (#6891)
• POST /eth/v2/beacon/pool/attestations bugfixes (#6867)
• Cargo update without rust_eth_kzg (#6848)
• Implement PeerDAS Fulu fork activation (#6795)
• Make range sync chain Id sequential (#6868)
• Underflow and Typo (#6885)
• Increase jemalloc aarch64 page size limit (#5244) (#6831)
• Some sync/backfill format nits (#6861)
• Fork aware max values in rpc (#6847)
• More gossipsub metrics (#6873)
• Fix Redb implementation and add CI checks (#6856)
• Detect invalid proposer signature on RPC block processing (#6519)
• Add tests for ExecutionRequests decoding errors (#6832)
• Update to EF tests v1.5.0-beta.1 (#6871)
• Modularize beacon node backend (#4718)
• Electra minor refactorings (#6839)
• Update discv5 (#6836)
• Avoid computing columns from EL blobs if block has already been imported (#6816)
• Add MetaData V3 support to node/identity API (#6827)
• Refactor mock builder (#6735)
• Add EIP-7636 support (#6793)
• Fix custodial peer assumption on lookup custody requests (#6815)
• Do not send column requests if there is no blob for the block. (#6814)
• SingleAttestation implementation (#6488)
• Misc. dependency cleanup (#6810)
• Remove ineffectual block RPC limits post merge (#6798)
• Implement PeerDAS subnet decoupling (aka custody groups) (#6736)
• Fix data columns not persisting for PeerDAS due to a getBlobs race condition (#6756)
• Use existing peer count metrics loop to check for open_nat toggle (#6800)
• Implement changes for EIP 7691 (#6803)
• Execution requests with ...