Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade: 12 EIPs Drive Scalability Evolution

The core developers of the Ethereum execution layer held their 214th meeting on June 20, determining the final scope of the Fusaka upgrade, which includes 12 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP). This marks the official transition of Fusaka from the planning phase to the substantive implementation phase.

As the largest hard fork upgrade since The Merge, the market generally expects that if Fusaka can be launched as planned by the end of 2025, it will bring significant improvements to the data space of Layer 2 networks. This may lead to further reductions in Layer 2 network transaction fees over the next 1-2 years, thereby consolidating Ethereum's market position.

Ethereum has been committed to solving the scalability issue, which has been a major bottleneck for the high on-chain costs of the mainnet and the difficulty in popularizing decentralized applications. According to publicly available data from April this year, the current throughput of the Ethereum layer 1 network is 15 transactions per second, and the Gas limit has recently been increased to 36 million, which has grown by about 6 times over the past 10 years.

More significant progress has been made in the Ethereum Layer 2 network. Currently, the throughput of Layer 2 networks has reached about 250 TPS, achieving substantial advancements in scalability. Many users have noticeably felt the reduction in on-chain operation fees and the increase in speed. Over the past year, the transfer fees of several mainstream Layer 2 networks have generally dropped to around $0.01, achieving a decrease of one to multiple orders of magnitude compared to before. The daily Gas cost on the Ethereum mainnet has also become significantly more user-friendly.

These improvements are the result of Ethereum's strict execution of its roadmap and continuous iteration. Looking back at the key upgrades of the Ethereum network in recent years:

• In 2022, the upgrade to PoS mechanism through The Merge significantly reduced energy consumption, freeing up execution layer bandwidth for subsequent upgrades.
• Successfully activated the Dencun upgrade in 2024, introducing Blob data mechanisms to provide low-cost temporary storage for layer two networks, significantly reducing Rollup costs.
• On May 7th this year, Pectra upgraded its launch, optimizing the validator operation process and enhancing the flexibility of participation in the PoS system.

The Fusaka upgrade is a key step in continuing the aforementioned process. According to executives from the Ethereum Foundation, the Fusaka plan is set to launch the mainnet in the third or fourth quarter of 2025, implementing several core EIPs, including PeerDAS data availability sampling, further pushing Ethereum to break through its performance bottlenecks.

From The Merge to Dencun, Pectra, and then to Fusaka, Ethereum is steadily advancing its long-term blueprint to create a global network that integrates security, scalability, decentralization, and sustainability.

The Fusaka upgrade includes 12 core EIPs that cover multiple technical dimensions such as data availability, lightweight nodes, EVM optimization, and collaborative mechanisms between the execution layer and data layer. Among them, the most notable is EIP-7594( PeerDAS ), which introduces the "data availability sampling ( DAS )" mechanism, allowing validators to complete verification by only downloading part of the Blob data without needing to fully store all the data. This significantly reduces the network burden, improves verification efficiency, and paves the way for large-scale transaction processing capabilities in Layer 2 networks.

The Fusaka upgrade also plans to achieve lightweight state and node structure by introducing Verkle trees, which can significantly compress the size of state proofs, making light clients and state-less verification possible, and also helps to promote the decentralization of Ethereum and its popularity on mobile devices.

At the virtual machine level, Fusaka focuses on the flexibility of EVM and performance bottlenecks:

• EIP-7939(CLZ opcode) efficiently implements bitwise operations, accelerating cryptographic computations.
• EIP-7951( secp256r1 replacement support ) enhances compatibility with traditional Web architecture and enterprise systems.
• EIP-7907 expands the contract size limit, supports the deployment of more complex logic, and enhances developer flexibility.

To ensure that scaling does not affect network stability, Fusaka introduces EIP-7934 to set block size limits, and adjusts Blob usage fees through EIP-7892/EIP-7918 to prevent resource abuse and dynamically match supply and demand fluctuations.

Fusaka is not just a technological upgrade; it is expected to lay the foundation for "from scalability to usability" on multiple key levels. For Rollup developers, this means lower data writing costs and more flexible interaction space; for wallet and infrastructure providers, it means supporting more complex interactions and heavier load node environments; for end users, it translates to lower experience costs and faster response times for on-chain operations; for enterprises and compliant users, EVM expansion and state proof simplification will make on-chain interactions easier to integrate with regulatory systems and facilitate large-scale deployment.

As of now, Fusaka is still undergoing testing on multiple development networks, and the final launch date may vary. Optimistically, Fusaka is expected to complete its mainnet deployment by the end of 2025, which could become another important milestone in Ethereum's history following The Merge.

Overall, Fusaka is not only limited to enhancing on-chain scalability but also represents a crucial step for Ethereum's transition to mainstream commercial applications and ordinary users. It is expected to provide a technical foundation for the next phase of the Rollup ecosystem, enterprise-level decentralized applications, and on-chain user experience. The true watershed moment for Ethereum's move towards large-scale mainstream applications may be approaching.