Ethereum News Today: Ethereum's Fusaka Upgrade Marks Shift to Cohesive Scaling Era

Ethereum's upcoming Fusaka upgrade, set to activate on Dec. 3, 2025, represents a pivotal step in the blockchain's long-term scalability strategy, building on recent network adjustments like the block gas limit increase to 60 million. The upgrade introduces Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), a mechanism that allows validators to verify rollup data without downloading entire blobs, reducing bandwidth and storage demands while enabling higher throughput according to analysis. This innovation, paired with Blob Parameter Only (BPO) forks, allows for incremental capacity increases in rollup data, avoiding the disruptive "big bang" hard forks of the past as described in technical reports. The changes align with Ethereum's Surge, Verge, and Purge roadmap, aiming to create a modular ecosystem capable of handling over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) through layer-2 (L2) solutions.

The gas limit hike to 60 million, achieved in November 2025 after 513,000 validators signaled support, has already expanded Ethereum's base-layer throughput. This adjustment, part of the "Pump The Gas" initiative led by developers Eric Connor and Mariano Conti, is designed to reduce transaction fees and ease congestion during peak activity. While the immediate effect is a temporary boost in block size, the Fusaka upgrade will institutionalize these scalability gains, ensuring the network can adapt to growing demand from decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and social platforms according to industry analysis.

For L2 ecosystems, the upgrade's impact is profound.

PeerDAS and BPO forks are expected to cut data fees by 40%-60% over time, incentivizing developers to build on Ethereum's rollup infrastructure. Analysts note that this could spur a new wave of competition among L2s, driving innovation in user experience and cost efficiency. Meanwhile, Ethereum's base layer is being repositioned as a high-capacity settlement engine, with adjusted blob pricing and minimum fees ensuring more activity settles on-chain.

The upgrade also addresses user experience and security. EIP-7917 introduces deterministic proposer lookahead, enhancing soft finality guarantees for rollups, while EIP-7951 adds native support for P-256 signatures, aligning Ethereum with mainstream fintech authentication standards. These changes, coupled with EIP-7642's history expiry extensions, reduce node storage requirements, making it easier for new validators to join the network. However, critics caution that increased complexity and a focus on monetization could alienate everyday users if cost and usability improvements remain opaque.

Ethereum's price action, currently hovering around $2,913 after a 30% monthly decline, underscores the market's cautious optimism. Despite bearish technical indicators like RSI and MACD, inflows into Ethereum ETFs-$175 million over two days in late November-suggest institutional confidence in the network's long-term potential. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has reiterated his belief in Ethereum's growth trajectory, noting that future gas limit increases could further enhance scalability while balancing network security costs.

Looking ahead, the next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, slated for 2026, will introduce enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS) and block-level access lists (BALs), further refining Ethereum's MEV (maximal extractable value) framework and execution efficiency. If executed as planned, Fusaka marks a turning point in Ethereum's evolution, shifting its roadmap from isolated upgrades to a cohesive scaling program that balances decentralization with throughput.