Ethereum Fusaka Hard Fork Outlook: Focus on Scaling Upgrades

Fusaka has entered the final testing and planning stage, and the mainnet activation time is tentatively scheduled for early November 2025.

This upgrade is mainly aimed at client developers and infrastructure service providers, focusing on optimizing underlying performance, scalability and node elasticity.

It is different from the Pectra upgrade that introduces user-side functions such as account abstraction and increasing the upper limit of verification nodes.

Fusaka integrates 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) to optimize core protocol parameters, enhance security and improve Gas efficiency. No smart contract optimization will be performed.

This selected long article is translated by Runpao Finance·Web3.0 Study Room from Denis Omelchenko's "No code breaks, just more room: what to expect from Ethereum’s Fusaka hard fork".

Core Proposal Analysis

Key Proposal EIP-7825: Defend against malicious message attacks and strengthen node stress resistance.

Block Gas Cap Increase:It is proposed to increase from the current level to 150 million units, and a single block can accommodate more transactions, but it will weigh the decrease in block propagation speed and network storage pressure.

Controversial Adjustments Shelved:To avoid delays in testing, EIP-7907 (doubling the contract code size limit and introducing new measurement rules) was withdrawn.

The opinions of the community were also adopted. Ethereum protocol support member Nixo adhered to a strict timeline to ensure Fusaka was launched before the key developer conference Devconnect (November 17-22).

Upgrade highlights at a glance

Gas capacity expansion:The block gas limit is increased to 150 million units, and each block can contain more transactions, which is used to reduce transaction fees and speed up transactions during high-load periods.

Security reinforcement (EIP-7825):Added attack mode defense mechanism to reduce the risk of network interruption.

Code measurement rule adjustment:Although EIP-7907 has been temporarily suspended, future upgrades may still include relevant optimizations.

Overall, this upgrade has no significant impact on the operation of most smart contracts, and its core value lies in improving network throughput and safe operation efficiency.

Upgrade route evolution

Ethereum strictly follows the upgrade cycle. After Pectra went online, the core development team (AllCoreDevs) immediately started a new version discussion, and Fusaka was finally selected.

At the same time, the protocol team finalized the EIP combination plan after multiple rounds of meetings. The final proposal list will be frozen on August 1, and the client team will be given a 1-2 month implementation window.

Specific route

Development network launch:The first version of the developer test network will be launched in mid-July 2025.

Public test network deployment:Two rounds of public testing will be launched in phases at the end of September and October 2025.

Mainnet Hard Fork:If there are no major obstacles, it is planned to be activated in early November, with the goal of completing it before the Buenos Aires Devconnect Conference (November 17-22).

If everything goes well, the development team will evaluate the test results in November and uniformly activate the upgrade at the preset block height.

Long-term impact outlook

User experience always relies on high-speed, low-cost, and highly secure blockchains. Although Fusaka is not a disruptive change, it will help Ethereum consolidate its position in the competition for high-speed public chains and Layer2 solutions by improving network capacity and defense capabilities, and create a better operating environment for DeFi applications, blockchain games and other scenarios.