Ethereum developers are preparing for the network’s second upgrade of 2025 to go live on the blockchain’s mainnet on Wednesday.
Fusaka – a blend of the names Fulu + Osaka – consists of two upgrades happening on Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers at the same time.
The goal of the upgrade is to enable Ethereum to handle the large transaction throughput from the layer-2 chains that use the blockchain as their base layer. Fusaka consists of 12 code changes, also known as “Ethereum Improvement Proposals” (EIPs) that will make the layer-2 experience faster and cheaper.
The biggest change in Fusaka is known as PeerDAS, which allows validators to check only segments of data instead of full “blobs,” easing bandwidth demands and lowering expenses for both validators and layer-2 networks. Layer 2s currently submit thousands of transactions to Ethereum via “blobs,” where validators currently on the Ethereum blockchain have to download all of the transaction data from the blob to verify it is accurate, creating bottlenecks. With this improvement, those validators will only need to verify a fraction of a blob, speeding up the process and lowering the transaction fees that come with it.
Fusaka doesn’t only improve the layer-2 experience, but has improvements that also affect Ethereum itself, though they are much more minor. Changes include the maximum size of a single transaction, aimed to enhance security, as well as some new code aimed at making smart contracts more efficient.
Institutions are also increasingly paying attention to this upgrade. Earlier this month, Fidelity Digital Assets released a report saying that Fusaka is a decisive shift toward a more strategically aligned and economically coherent roadmap.
