Ethereum's Fusaka Upgrade Goes Live, Boosting Scalability and Future Potential

The Ethereum network has successfully activated its Fusaka upgrade on the mainnet, marking a significant advancement in its protocol roadmap. This upgrade is designed to enhance the network's capabilities, particularly in scaling, by increasing data throughput for rollups, improving blob capacity management, and laying the groundwork for future user experience enhancements.

Key Takeaways

• The Fusaka upgrade combines "Osaka" (execution layer) and "Fulu" (consensus layer) changes.

• PeerDAS (EIP-7594) is the headline feature, enabling up to an 8x theoretical increase in blob throughput.

• Blob-only mini-forks (EIP-7892) allow for more flexible adjustments to blob capacity.

• The upgrade refines blob fee markets and aims for greater economic sustainability.

Understanding Fusaka

Fusaka represents a dual upgrade, integrating changes from both the execution layer, referred to as "Osaka," and the consensus layer, known as "Fulu." This combined approach is crucial for implementing some of the most impactful scaling improvements, especially those that operate at the intersection of consensus and data availability.

The Power of PeerDAS

The most significant feature of the Fusaka upgrade is Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), detailed in EIP-7594. Previously, full nodes needed to download and store all blob data to ensure its availability. With PeerDAS, nodes can now sample and retain only a fraction of this data, while the network still guarantees that the complete data can be reconstructed. This design is projected to enable up to an eightfold theoretical increase in blob throughput without demanding excessive hardware resources from nodes, a critical aspect of scaling Ethereum's data layer sustainably.

For users and developers, PeerDAS translates into tangible benefits. As rollups post their transaction data in blobs, increased and more affordable blob capacity can lead to lower transaction fees on Layer 2 solutions over time. It also mitigates congestion during peak usage periods by reducing competition for limited space.

Flexible Blob Capacity Adjustments

Another key enhancement introduced by Fusaka is the capability for blob-parameter-only mini-forks, as defined in EIP-7892. This allows Ethereum to adjust blob targets and maximums more dynamically between major upgrades. This flexibility is vital because the demand for blob capacity from rollups can grow rapidly, necessitating a more responsive adjustment mechanism than traditional, large-scale upgrades can provide.

Economic Refinements and Value Accrual

Beyond scaling, Fusaka also addresses the economic aspects of the network. The upgrade includes refinements to the blob fee market, as outlined in EIP-7918. This aims to create a more predictable pricing structure by anchoring blob costs to execution conditions, preventing scenarios where blob gas prices might plummet indefinitely. This focus on economic sustainability and the potential for increased value accrual to ETH, by tying Layer 2 usage more directly to the network's revenue, is a narrative gaining traction in institutional research.

Sources

• What Changed On Mainnet And Why It Matters, Crypto Adventure.