Ethereum Completes Fusaka Upgrade with Zero Downtime

Key Highlights

• The Fusaka hard fork has been successfully completed on the Ethereum blockchain with zero downtime.
• This upgrade will scale layer-2 solutions by reducing network fees
• As the upgrade completes, Ethereum has witnessed a rally, surging past a major resistance level $3,200

On December 4, the Ethereum blockchain network announced the completion of the major upgrade, Fusaka hardfork, with zero downtime. 

On December 3, at 21:49:11 UTC, the upgrade activated across the entire blockchain at epoch 411392 and block height 18,200,000. According to the tweet, the transition was smooth with no disruption to the network’s operations. 

What is Fusaka Hardfork

This is the second major hard fork of the year, which is named after the star “Fulu” and the city of Osaka. It comes after the Pectra upgrade that took place in May. For this upgrade, developers had prepared extensively by running the update on multiple test networks throughout October without any issues. 

This testing on the different test networks has given the community confidence for the mainnet launch. 

The major component of the Fusaka upgrade is a new technology called Peer Data Availability Sampling, or PeerDAS. This is a major update for how the network handles data. Before Fusaka, nodes had to download large chunks of data to verify information from Layer-2 rollups, which are networks built on top of Ethereum to make it faster. 

With PeerDAS, validators now only need to sample small random pieces of that data. One can think of it like checking only a few pages of a very long book to confirm the entire book is present, instead of reading every single page. This change cuts the required bandwidth for node operators by up to 80% and reduces storage needs by 85%.

This directly makes an effect by increasing the capacity of the network. The network can now handle many more data “blobs,” which potentially increases from 9 per block to 64 or more. This allows Layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Base to process over 100,000 transactions per second. This is a similar throughput that outperforms traditional payment networks like Visa. 

“PeerDAS in Fusaka is important because it literally represents sharding. Sharding has been a dream for Ethereum since 2015, and data availability sampling since 2017, and now we have it,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated. 

Apart from PeerDAS, the hard fork also includes a bundle of 12 smaller improvements that optimize both the execution and consensus layers of Ethereum. One major change introduces account abstraction, which makes blockchain interactions feel more like using a regular website. This could allow for gas-free transactions and easier logins using a phone. 

After the main activation, two smaller “Blob Parameter Only” forks are scheduled for December and January. These will gradually increase the data targets, which scales the network’s efficiency over time. This mechanism will strengthen Ethereum’s economic model by ensuring more ETH is burned during periods of high demand, which can benefit the overall value of the network.

Ethereum’s users do not need to take any action from their side as their wallets and services continue to work normally. However, they will soon feel the impact through lower transaction fees on Layer-2 networks. 

Ethereum Soars Above $3,200 Amid Fusaka Upgrade

The successful upgrade sparked a strong positive reaction in the cryptocurrency market. The price of Ethereum’s native token, ETH, surged over $3,200 with a sharp rise from $2,748. 

At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at around $3,142 with a 4.36% surge on a weekly chart. According to experts, this rally was triggered by large investors as they are accumulating more ETH along with record-breaking transaction activity across the network just before the launch. 

Another bullish statement came from White House economic adviser Hassett, who stated that the Federal Reserve will likely cut interest rates next week.

Also Read: WisdomTree Launches Europe’s First Fully Staked Ethereum ETP