Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has highlighted that the upcoming Fusaka upgrade will enable nodes to verify data availability without needing to download the entire blockchain, a move expected to significantly boost scalability.
Slated for December, the upgrade will address current data availability challenges through a core feature called PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling), Buterin explained on Thursday.
“PeerDAS is attempting something quite unprecedented: a live blockchain where no single node needs to download all the data,” he said, calling it “the key to L2 scaling, and eventually L1 scaling.”
With PeerDAS, nodes only download small “chunks” of data and rely on statistical sampling to confirm that the full dataset exists across the network, rather than processing the complete blockchain.
PeerDAS was first introduced in Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7594 in January 2024 to ensure blob data availability while allowing nodes to download just a subset of the data.
“Improved data availability helps scale Ethereum for users of layer-2 systems called ‘rollups,’ whose main bottleneck is layer-1 data availability,” the EIP states.
Blob count reaches new high
Buterin’s remarks followed observations from Dragonfly’s head of data, Hildebert Moulié, that the network hit six blobs per block target for the first time on Wednesday.
The recent spike in blob usage is largely driven by Coinbase’s layer-2 platform Base and Worldcoin, according to Moulié. Blobs (Binary Large Objects) were introduced in Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade in March 2024 via EIP-4844, also known as proto-danksharding. They are designed to reduce transaction costs for layer-2 rollups.
Fusaka Upgrade to Double Blob Targets
The Fusaka upgrade, set for December 3, will implement EIP-7594 and double Ethereum’s blob capacity, raising the target and maximum from 6 and 9 per block, respectively.
Vitalik Buterin emphasized that, as this is all new technology, core developers are taking a cautious approach with testing, despite years of preparation.
“This is why the initial increase in blob counts will be conservative, gradually becoming more aggressive over time,” he said, noting that the upgrade will significantly enhance scalability.
After Fusaka’s rollout, two Blob Parameter Only (BPO) forks are planned to incrementally raise the maximum blob counts. The first will boost the limit from 9 to 15, while the second, scheduled for January, will increase it further to 21, according to Ethereum researcher Christine Kim.
