Ethereum developers are preparing for the network’s second major upgrade this year, known as Fusaka, which will take place in late November or early December, pending final test results.
Fusaka – a blend of the names Fulu and Osaka – consists of two simultaneous upgrades to Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers, respectively.
The upgrade is focused on making the Ethereum blockchain more scalable and efficient, and is expected to benefit institutions and users as transaction costs on Rollup networks are expected to drop, while mining nodes are expected to become less cumbersome and expensive for newcomers looking to run nodes.
Fusaka includes 12 major code changes, or Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), that together aim to increase data capacity, reduce costs, and streamline validator operations.
One of the biggest additions is EIP-7594, or Peerdas (Peer Data Availability Sampling), a system that allows Ethereum validators to check data availability by sampling small chunks instead of downloading the whole thing. This change allows the network to handle significantly more ROLUP data (“blobs”) per block, paving the way for cheaper Layer 2 transactions and greater throughput without compromising decentralization.
Fusaka could enable newcomers or smaller players to operate on Ethereum, rather than reducing costs for those already running large fleets of validators. Changes in upgrade efficiency mean that entities running only a few validators – or none – might find it simpler and less resource-intensive to start or maintain nodes. However, institutions with extensive node operations, such as staking pools, will not see major cost savings.
Vaneck, a prominent asset manager, said Fusaka will be meaningful for users, arguing that it will reduce costs for rollers and make Ethereum more efficient for large players. Because validators won’t have to download each data blob in full (thanks to Peerdas), bandwidth and storage demands go down, meaning institutions running full nodes or clusters of nodes will see a lower infrastructure cost.
The company also claims that Fusaka strengthens ETH’s role as a store of value and settlement asset, as transaction fee revenue at the base layer may shrink as more activity shifts to rolling, but ETH becomes more central in securing and validating that activity.
Fusaka’s other 11 changes are smaller but still important; Things like fine-tuning how transaction fees are calculated, setting clearer limits on block size, and adding new developer tools that facilitate Ethereum applications faster with standard internet security systems. Collectively, they make Ethereum’s base layer more predictable, flexible, and compatible with mainstream crypto standards.
Following Dencun last year and Pecctra earlier this year, Fusaka continues Ethereum’s rapid pace of improvement designed to make the network more scalable and enterprise-ready.
Fusaka has already passed a first test on October 1 and will see two additional tests on October 14 and 28, before the core developers decide on a date for MainNet.
The developers say that Fusaka is supposed to set the stage for additional changes in 2026, in the next Glamsterdam upgrade. This hard fork is expected to focus on introducing Proposer Office Separation – a change that would make Ethereum’s block production process more secure and transparent.
Read more: Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade passes Holesky test, moves closer to Mainnet
