Fusaka Upgrade Goes Live
Ethereum's second major upgrade of 2025, known as Fusaka, went live on Wednesday, bringing significant enhancements to data capacity, transaction costs, and overall network usability. The Fusaka upgrade officially activated on the mainnet at 9:49 p.m. UTC at Epoch 411392.
Key Features and Benefits
The headline feature of the Fusaka upgrade is peer data availability sampling (PeerDAS). This innovation provides substantial scaling capabilities for both Ethereum and layer-2 networks, introducing a more efficient method for processing information across the network.
The Ethereum Foundation provided a detailed breakdown of the upgrade's impacts, explaining how it affects users, developers, node operators, layer-2 networks, rollups, and enterprises. According to the foundation, Fusaka brings Ethereum closer to achieving near-instant transactions, creating a more seamless user experience. The upgrade establishes the groundwork for instant-feel user experiences by enabling reduced transaction latency from minutes to milliseconds through based preconfirmations.
Impact on Layer-2 Networks and Rollups
For layer-2 networks and rollups, Fusaka is set to unlock up to 8x data throughput via PeerDAS. This is achieved by fragmenting entire blobs of rollup data into smaller cells, which allows nodes to download and upload significantly less information. This architecture enables nodes to process data faster, facilitating more efficient interactions between layer-2 networks and the Ethereum mainnet. Consequently, rollups are expected to benefit from cheaper blob fees and expanded growth capacity while maintaining network decentralization.
Market Expectations and Price Trajectory
Given the comprehensive enhancements provided by Fusaka, market participants are closely observing Ethereum's price response. MerlijnTrader noted that Ethereum's previous Pectra upgrade resulted in a 58% price move, suggesting that Fusaka could potentially generate even larger gains.
Bitcoin advocate @LLuciano_BTC commented on November 29th that Fusaka feels like the type of catalyst that sparks real upside. He further added that Ethereum is finally demonstrating the extent to which scaling can advance while preserving its core design principles. Analysts anticipate that this upgrade will support Ethereum's long-term price trajectory.