Optimism’s Isthmus upgrade sees exciting Pectra upgrades implemented onto BOB thanks to our use of the OP Stack, including cheaper transactions, improved wallet functionality and better security. 

No user action is required to enjoy these new benefits. They will be available as soon as dapps on BOB integrate the new technology. 
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Isthmus benefits for the BOB community

Cheaper transactions: Ethereum blob capacity is doubled, lowering L2 costs with new size caps to keep bandwidth steady.

Transaction batching: Batch approvals, swaps and other steps can be executed atomically. This means no more needing to approve and then transfer, or approve and then swap. This can now be done in a single transaction.

Gas sponsorship: Dapps can now pay for transaction fees, meaning accounts with zero ETH can still interact, reducing barriers to entering the ecosystem.

Alternative authentication: Hardware security modules (HSMs) in phones can authorize operations through technologies like passkeys.

Spending controls: Wallet daily outflows can be capped and limits can be set on how many tokens a specific application may spend, enhancing security.

Recovery mechanisms: Users have more recovery options which means they do not have to migrate to a new account.

More consistent gas fees: The upgrade introduces an explicit operator-fee term in the OP-Stack pricing formula, which means BOB can start setting better fee parameters that are less susceptible to gas variance on the Ethereum L1.

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How are Pectra and Isthmus related?

Today’s Isthmus upgrade means BOB community members can now benefit from relevant Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that were enabled as part of the Pectra upgrade.

The Pectra hard fork went live on May 7, 2025, and was the 16th major Ethereum network upgrade. Composed of the Prague (execution‑layer) and Electra (consensus‑layer) upgrades, 11 EIPs were packaged as part of the Pectra hard fork. To ensure all OP Chains achieve feature parity with Ethereum, Upgrade Proposal #15 - Isthmus Hard Fork was successfully voted upon on April 12, 2025, and launched today.

Out of all the EIPs that were recently included as part of the Pectra update, EIP-7702 is the most useful feature upgrade for BOB users. Before Pectra, regular wallets like Metamask, Ledger & Rabby (known as Externally Owned Accounts or EOAs) were limited in scope, and could only do basic things like send transactions. With EIP-7702, their usefulness is greatly increased with the addition of smart account functionality.

By signing an authorization that points to a specific delegation address, EIP-7702 allows EOA’s to acquire temporary smart contract capabilities, granting them access to an array of useful features. 

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What the future holds 

With Isthmus now live, BOB has access to the latest benefits on Ethereum, including cheaper transactions, much improved wallet UX, tighter security controls, and a wallet experience that feels as seamless as any smart account. Put simply, expect faster, cheaper transitions, richer wallet functionality, and a continually hardening security model—all without leaving the familiar BOB address you use today.