Ethereum has successfully launched its Fusaka upgrade, aimed at enhancing the network’s transaction processing capabilities while upholding its security and decentralization standards, based on network documentation.
ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged the developers behind this initiative.
Summary
- Ethereum introduces the Fusaka upgrade to enhance transaction processing while preserving security and decentralization.
- The key innovation is EIP-7594 (PeerDAS), enabling nodes to verify block data without full downloads, thus boosting efficiency.
- The upgrade supports scaling and DeFi expansion, assisting Ethereum in managing millions of daily transactions and maintaining its premier smart contract ecosystem.
“Congratulations to the Ethereum researchers and core developers who have worked diligently for years to bring this to fruition,” the 31-year-old entrepreneur expressed on X late Wednesday.
Enhancing network capacity while ensuring existing security
The Fusaka upgrade was activated on the network’s final testnet, Hoodi, in October.
It focuses on EIP-7594: PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling), a protocol that enables Ethereum nodes to verify the completeness of block data without needing full data downloads. This implementation strives to increase network capacity while ensuring that existing security and decentralization frameworks are maintained.
Ethereum, recognized as the largest smart contract blockchain by total value locked, oversees over $73 billion in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. The network processes between 1.3 million and 1.8 million transactions daily, according to Etherscan, a blockchain analytics service.
The Fusaka upgrade is part of Ethereum’s ongoing development trajectory aimed at scaling solutions, particularly sharding. This blockchain scaling technique divides the network into smaller segments, enabling nodes to handle a portion of transactions while ensuring security, thereby significantly enhancing throughput.
Network developers have framed the upgrade as a technical improvement in Ethereum’s ability to manage higher transaction volumes without sacrificing the decentralized nature of the blockchain’s validator network.
“Sharding has been an aspiration for Ethereum since 2015… and data availability sampling since 2017,” Buterin noted, referencing a GitHub post. “And now we’ve achieved it.”
Market Reaction
Ethereum surged past $3,000 following the upgrade launch. At the latest update, it was up approximately 5%, trading around $3,162.
