Technical Advancements and Scaling Roadmap
Ethereum has just completed one of the most active months in its history, delivering 29 launches, upgrades, policy shifts, and ecosystem milestones. The surge began with the Fusaka upgrade on December 3, introducing 13 new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that improved blob capacity, enhanced user experience, and activated data-availability sampling. With these updates now live, Ethereum’s roadmap toward more efficient Layer-1 scaling looks more achievable than ever.
The Fusaka upgrade set the tone for a month driven by rapid technical improvements and ecosystem expansion. Aave introduced its redesigned Aave App, offering a cleaner interface and simpler access to DeFi. Meanwhile, Devconnect Buenos Aires became Ethereum’s largest event to date, drawing over 20,000 attendees and hosting more than 75 project demos—many participants described it as Ethereum’s first true “World’s Fair.”
Real-World Finance and Institutional Integration
Real-world finance continued to integrate with Ethereum as Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, launched the first tokenized share class of a euro-denominated money market fund directly onchain. Disney also entered the Ethereum ecosystem via Cryptoys on Abstract, bringing globally recognized IP into Ethereum’s digital economy. Institutional interest climbed further when JPMorgan’s USD deposit token, JPMD, went live on Base, signaling a broader shift toward settling traditional finance transactions on public blockchain infrastructure. The AI-focused Eliza EcoFund also migrated its ELIZAOS token to Ethereum, naming it the preferred base layer for AI-agent development. The Ethereum Foundation later confirmed Mumbai as the host city for Devcon 2026, expanding its engagement in India’s fast-growing developer landscape.
Regulatory Coordination and Protocol Advocacy
Regulatory coordination strengthened with the creation of the Ethereum Protocol Advocacy Alliance, combining leading protocols—including Aave, Aragon, Curve, Lido, Spark, The Graph, and Uniswap—under a unified mission to defend Ethereum’s neutrality and promote permissionless innovation worldwide.
Rollup and Privacy Technology Advancements
Rollup and privacy technology also made major strides. Starknet activated S-two, a high-speed prover securing every block, reinforcing its role in Ethereum’s ZK-rollup future. Aztec introduced Ignition, a decentralized Layer-2 consensus system enabling private, programmable onchain activity. The Ethereum Foundation also announced the Ethereum Interop Layer, a new initiative that aims to make Ethereum’s multi-rollup environment feel like a unified chain.
Stablecoin Innovation and Decentralized Computation
Stablecoin innovation accelerated as USX Capital deployed a privacy-preserving stablecoin on Scroll and LayerZero, enabling gasless private transfers. Aplus launched an issuance framework allowing smaller banks to offer GENIUS-compliant stablecoins. Nillion expanded its Blind Computer technology to Ethereum, unlocking decentralized computation without exposing user data.
Consumer Adoption and Infrastructure Improvements
Consumer adoption also accelerated across emerging markets. The Startale App for Soneium gained traction, supporting over 10 million weekly transactions. Argentina saw the introduction of wARS, a peso-pegged stablecoin available on Ethereum, Base, and World Chain. Liquidity and trading infrastructure improved as 1inch launched Aqua for liquidity defragmentation, and Renegade went live on Arbitrum with privacy-first, MEV-resistant trading. Tokenization gained momentum when Robinhood’s EU division tokenized nearly 1,000 stocks on Arbitrum for onchain settlement. Japan’s largest idol and fashion festival also moved onchain using the IRC App, powered by Record Protocol on Soneium.
Ecosystem Scaling and User-Facing Infrastructure
Ethereum’s broader scaling ecosystem reached new highs this month, surpassing 34,000 transactions per second through rollup activity—its highest throughput ever recorded. The network also expanded user-facing infrastructure with multiple tools designed to increase safety, transparency, and usability, including social-driven activity apps, MEV-protected RPC endpoints, enhanced naming services, developer analytics platforms, and new fair-launch mechanisms.
Conclusion: A New Era of Growth
Altogether, these developments illustrate a network accelerating on every front—scalability, institutional adoption, cultural integration, AI, tokenization, and global financial infrastructure. Ethereum’s record month signals a clear shift toward its next major era of growth.