Ethereum core developers have set a schedule for the much anticipated Fusaka hard fork for December. Aiming to enhance scalability and efficiency of the Ethereum network, the mainnet activation for Fusaka is tentatively set for December 3, following a series of testnet upgrades in October and November.
Revealed at Ethereum’s All Core Devs Consensus (ACDC) call, the central goal of the Fusaka hard fork is to enhance network scalability by increasing the capacity of blobs, a large dataset on Ethereum blockchain.
By introducing Peer Data Availability Sampling, which enables validators to verify blobs, it helps in sampling small portions from peer nodes instead of downloading entire datasets. With this development, the upgrade is expected to significantly reduce transaction costs for users on Layer 2 networks.
The upgrade introduces increased blob capacity via two Blob Parameter-Only (BPO) forks; on December 3, Fusaka will activate with no immediate change to blob capacity, which will remain at the current target of 6 blobs per block.
One week after the mainnet upgrade, a BPO fork will activate, increasing the blob target to 10 blobs and the maximum to 15 blobs per block. The following week, the blob target will be raised again to 14 blobs and the maximum to 21 blobs, effectively more than doubling the initial blob capacity.
As per a note shared by Barnabas Busa, the Fusaka upgrade will first be deployed on three public testnets; Holesky on October 1, Sepolia on October 14, and Hoodi on October 28 while the mainnet activation will expectedly take place on December 3.
Additionally, the upgrade incorporates proposals to increase block gas limits from 30 million to 150 million units, implementation of Verkle Trees to optimize data storage, as well as improvements to EVM performance for faster smart contract execution.
