Last night the long-awaited Fusaka upgrade went live on the Ethereum (ETH) network. The upgrade introduces several technical improvements that should strengthen the scalability and data processing of the network. In this article we list all adjustments.
New phase for Ethereum developments
Fusaka, the 17th major upgrade on the now ten-year-old blockchain, went live at the beginning of epoch 411392, around 10:50 PM Dutch time. The update follows seven months after the most recent Pectra update and, according to development studio Consensys, marks the start of a six-month hard fork cycle.
This means that Ethereum wants to perform a major update every six months from now on. That is a clear acceleration, considering that Ethereum has had an average of one annual main upgrade since the transition to proof-of-stake via the Merge in 2022.
The upgrade includes a total of nine core EIPs and four additional proposals, making Fusaka the largest update to date by number of deployments. By comparison, Pectra included eleven proposals. Within the Ethereum community, Fusaka is therefore seen as proof that the new development structure of the Ethereum Foundation is able to support this higher rhythm.
PeerDAS must increase scalability of rollups
The most important innovation within Fusaka is PeerDAS, a new technology introduced via EIP-7594. PeerDAS allows validators to check only parts of the data instead of downloading all the data onto the blockchain. This is relevant for Layer-2 networks, which use blobs (smaller piles of data) as a temporary storage layer.
According to the Ethereum Foundation, this method provides higher blob capacity without additional bandwidth pressure on nodes. More blob space can lead to lower transaction costs on Layer-2 networks, while Ethereum provides the same data availability security over L1.
Fusaka also introduces the “Blob Parameter Only” mechanism, which scales blob capacity incrementally. Two more updates will follow, increasing the blob target per block to 14 and the maximum to 21. This can increase the total capacity by up to eight times.
There will also be a minimum base fee for blobs and a proportional fee that increases with higher L2 activity, intended to achieve more stable costs and a more consistent burn of ETH. Calvin Leyon, Head of Onchain at Kraken, says:
“More blob space, lower L2 costs and smarter data availability through PeerDAS mean builders can ship faster without sacrificing UX.”
Focus on efficiency and future-proofing
In addition to the data-related adjustments, Fusaka includes various protocol and UX improvements. An example is a higher gas limit cap to prevent disproportionately large transactions.
The upgrade also introduces the Count Leading Zeros opcode, which can increase the efficiency of zero-knowledge technology and contribute to quantum resistance. This means that Ethereum is already somewhat ahead of possible quantum threats in the future.
The next major Ethereum upgrade is already planned. This upgrade is called Glamsterdam and should be rolled out sometime in 2026.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/ethereum-krijgt-grootste-upgrade-ooit-dit-verandert-er-met-fusaka/
