5 key points to understand Ethereum's Fusaka update

Source: CritpoTendencia Original Title: 5 key points to understand the Fusaka upgrade on Ethereum Original Link: This Wednesday, as widely anticipated, the Fusaka upgrade was activated on the Ethereum mainnet. It is one of the most relevant hard forks in recent months and holds key importance for this multi-purpose blockchain.

The upgrade seeks to solve one of the network’s major challenges: scalability and efficiency. This means reducing costs for users and developers. This article reviews 5 key points to understand the upgrade that was activated on December 3. These elements are:

• Massive increase of the gas limit.
• PeerDAS: innovation in data availability.
• Improvements in blob handling for L2s.
• Strengthening security and optimizations.
• Foundation for future upgrades.

Before analyzing the points of this upgrade, it is worth reviewing the concept of Fusaka. As mentioned above, it is a hard fork composed of a dozen EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposals). Of these, the most relevant is EIP-7594 or PeerDAS, explained later.

The Fusaka upgrade and the massive increase of Ethereum’s gas limit

The first element to understand Fusaka is the significant increase in the gas limit on Ethereum’s base layer. With the upgrade, gas goes from 36 million to 60 million units per block. This allows for more transactions and complex smart contracts to be processed per block, markedly increasing the network’s operational capacity.

With this improvement, Ethereum can handle between 40 and 60 transactions per second on the base layer, while second-layer solutions (L2) could reach up to 100,000 TPS, bringing Ethereum closer to the performance of high-speed blockchains like Solana.

PeerDAS: innovation in data availability

Fusaka introduces Peer-to-Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS). This is a technology that allows nodes to validate data without having to download all the information. It reduces computational load, facilitates node operation, and promotes decentralization.

Moreover, PeerDAS is essential for L2 solutions like Arbitrum or Optimism, as it improves the way transaction data is organized and distributed, enabling more efficient scaling.

Improvements in blob handling for L2s

The upgrade expands the storage capacity for blobs or Binary Large Objects, which are fundamental for interoperability and scalability between layer 1 and L2s. This improvement is key to reducing fees and increasing the overall efficiency of the ecosystem.

Optimized blob handling allows L2s to publish large amounts of data more economically and quickly, reducing costs for users and improving application speed.

Strengthening security and optimizations

Fusaka also incorporates several EIPs, notably EIP-7825, which strengthens the network’s defenses against potential attacks, especially denial-of-service attacks (DoS).

Additionally, improvements are added to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to accelerate processing and support modern cryptographic signatures, such as the R1 signature used in passkeys.

These optimizations ensure that the capacity increase is accompanied by enhanced security and reliability.

Foundation for future upgrades

Finally, it is important to note that Fusaka is not a standalone upgrade, but part of a broader roadmap moving toward Ethereum Stateless and the implementation of the RISC-V virtual machine between 2026 and 2028.

Fusaka lays the groundwork for the next upgrade, Glamsterdam, which will continue increasing processing capacity, speed, and resilience against attacks or censorship. Therefore, Fusaka is a fundamental pillar in the long-term evolution that will allow Ethereum to compete globally and expand its use in payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and more.