IoTeX Yap Hard Fork Launches With Full Ethereum Pectra Compatibility

IoTeX Yap Hard Fork: Everything About the v2.4.1 Mainnet Upgrade

IoTeX has officially shipped its latest mainnet upgrade. The "Yap" hard fork went live on June 7th, 2026, and with it came full Ethereum Pectra compatibility on the IoTeX L1. The release is tagged v2.4.1 and it is a mandatory upgrade for every node operator on the network. No config changes are needed just a restart with the new image.

Here is a complete breakdown of what changed, what was fixed, and what it means for the network going forward.

What Is the Yap Hard Fork

The Yap hard fork activates at block 48,985,561 on the IoTeX mainnet. It is a two-part release. The first part, v2.4.0, introduced the core protocol changes. The second part, v2.4.1, is a mandatory follow-up patch that fixes bugs in the candidate exit queue introduced by v2.4.0. All changes in v2.4.1 are scoped to the staking package. There are no genesis changes and no config schema changes.

The headline of the entire upgrade is this: full Ethereum Pectra compatibility has officially landed on IoTeX.

IIP-60: Pectra EVM — Parity With Ethereum's Latest

The biggest feature in the Yap hard fork is IIP-60, which brings it to parity with Ethereum's Pectra upgrade. Three specific capabilities come with this:

EIP-7702: Native Account Abstraction

EIP-7702 allows externally owned accounts regular wallets to temporarily behave like smart contracts. In practical terms, this means wallets can execute more complex logic without requiring a separate smart contract deployment for every interaction. It opens the door to things like transaction batching, sponsored gas fees, and more flexible wallet behavior. For dApp developers building on IoTeX, this makes the user experience significantly easier to design around.

Rollups

Pectra EVM compatibility brings rollup support improvements that make it easier for layer-2 solutions and scaling infrastructure to build on top of IoTeX. This is relevant for any project looking at high-throughput use cases where base layer costs need to be managed.

Cross-Chain BLS

BLS signature aggregation support is included as part of the Pectra compatibility work. BLS signatures allow multiple signatures to be compressed into one, which reduces data size and verification cost. For cross-chain operations, this is a meaningful efficiency improvement.

Together, IIP-60 positions IoTeX at the same EVM compatibility level as Ethereum's current state. Developers who are already familiar with Pectra-compatible tooling can build on IoTeX without adjustments.

Candidate Exit Queue: Safer Validator Exits

The second major feature in the Yap hard fork is the Candidate Exit Queue, introduced through IIP-61. Before this upgrade, validator candidates could deactivate immediately. The new system replaces that with a three-stage process: Request, Schedule, and Confirm.

This design rate-limits exits from the validator set. Rather than a candidate being able to leave instantly, the process now moves through defined stages with time built in between them. The result is more predictable validator behavior and better protection of network stability. Sudden exits from multiple validators at the same time become structurally harder under this system.

The team described it plainly: safer, more predictable validator exits to protect network stability.

The v2.4.1 Patch: Bugs Fixed After Launch

v2.4.1 is a mandatory follow-up patch to v2.4.0. Several bugs surfaced in the candidate exit queue implementation right after Yap activation archive nodes were panicking on the Schedule block, the Confirm operation was unreachable via Web3, and event data was being dropped in on-chain logs. All fixes are scoped to the staking package. No genesis or config changes required. 

What Node Operators Need to Do

The Yap hard fork requires action from every node on the network. v2.4.1 is a mandatory release archive nodes, delegates, full nodes, and API nodes all need to upgrade. There are no changes to genesis or config schema. The only step required is restarting the node with the new v2.4.1 image.

The mandatory nature of this release comes from the staking package fixes. Archive nodes running v2.4.0 without this patch enter a restart loop the first time the exit queue runs. That alone makes upgrading non-negotiable for any operator running an archive node.

For delegates specifically, the Candidate Exit Queue changes also affect how exits are managed going forward. The three-stage process Request, Schedule, Confirm is now live. Any delegate planning to deactivate needs to follow this new flow rather than the old immediate exit path.

Full release notes are available on the IoTeX GitHub repository under iotex-core releases.

Why This Matters for DePIN and Real World AI

The IoTeX team called the Yap hard fork "a massive leap forward for large-scale DePIN and Real World AI workloads."

It has been positioning itself as the infrastructure layer for DePIN- Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks and for AI systems that rely on real-world data from physical devices. The Pectra EVM upgrade directly supports this direction.

Account abstraction through EIP-7702 makes it easier to design onboarding flows for device operators who may not be experienced crypto users. Devices can interact with the network through more flexible transaction structures. Cross-chain BLS support improves efficiency for systems that aggregate data or coordinate across multiple networks. And the validator stability improvements from the Candidate Exit Queue protect the underlying network that all of these workloads depend on.

IoTeX already reached 99,772 ioIDs as of March 2026, with 210 applications in its ecosystem and AI data requests surging. The hard fork gives that infrastructure a more capable and stable protocol layer to build on.

Upgrade Priority: Mandatory for All Node Types

The v2.4.1 release is mandatory. Every node type must upgrade.

No changes are required to genesis.yaml or config.yaml. Node operators only need to restart their nodes using the new v2.4.1 image. The full release notes are available on the IoTeX GitHub repository under the iotex-core releases page.

What Comes Next

The Yap hard fork is a significant step in IoTeX's technical roadmap. Pectra compatibility puts IoTeX at the current frontier of development. The Candidate Exit Queue builds a more stable and professional validator ecosystem. And the v2.4.1 patch ensures the implementation is clean and reliable before the network builds further on top of it.

For node operators, the action is simple: upgrade now. For developers, the new account abstraction capabilities and cross-chain BLS support open up design space that was not available before. For the broader IoTeX ecosystem, the Yap hard fork delivers a more capable, more stable, and more interoperable protocol.

Disclaimer 

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Always refer to the official IoTeX documentation and GitHub releases for the most accurate technical details.