Please refer to Kraken's comprehensive general overview of the Prague/Electra upgrade.
No, migration is not required. Type 0x01 validators remain valid but are limited to old settings, with a 32 ETH cap.
For 0x02 validators, 256–1024 ETH is considered optimal due to compounding rewards and efficiency gains. If your stake exceeds that, consider splitting it across multiple validators.
After the Pectra upgrade, each validator’s effective balance will compound automatically up to a hard cap of 2,048 ETH. Once you hit that cap, any additional rewards will still accrue to the validator’s actual balance but will no longer increase its effective balance—meaning they stop compounding.
To claim these “excess” rewards, you’ll need to submit a partial withdrawal via EIP-7002 to your designated withdrawal address. Alternatively, you can leave them in the validator, but they won’t earn additional staking rewards.
Partial withdrawals are only available for type 0x02. You need to upgrade your validator's withdrawal credentials to type 0x01 first.
With EIP-7002 (Pectra upgrade), both 0x01 and 0x02 validators can exit at the execution layer via smart contract.