The Ethereum mainnet activation time is now set for December 3 at 21:49 UTC, with the corresponding slot number being 13,164,544. This upgrade, named Fusaka, marks another pivotal step in Ethereum’s "Surge" scaling phase, following the Pectra upgrade in May.
The upgrade’s core objective is clear: to make Layer 2 transaction fees cheaper and boost network throughput. Layer 2 fees are expected to drop significantly by 40% to 60%, and in some cases, reductions could reach as high as 90%.
01 Upgrade Milestone: A Global Countdown to a Technical Moment
The Fusaka upgrade has entered its final countdown. According to official confirmation from the Ethereum Foundation, the mainnet activation is scheduled for December 3 at 21:49 UTC.
Converted to Beijing time, this is December 4 at 5:49 AM, with the corresponding slot number being 13,164,544.
Unlike previous upgrades, this one has already been fully deployed and validated on the Holesky, Sepolia, and Hoodi testnets.
The Ethereum Foundation has even allocated $2 million to a bug bounty program for this upgrade, ensuring a smooth transition for the mainnet.
02 Technical Core: PeerDAS and BPO—A "Dual Approach"
The Fusaka upgrade includes around 12 Ethereum Improvement Proposals, with its technical core centered on the innovative combination of PeerDAS technology and the BPO upgrade path.
PeerDAS stands for Peer Data Availability Sampling, a data availability sampling technology based on peer-to-peer networks.
Once implemented, validators will only need to sample one-eighth of the blob data, rather than downloading the entire dataset. This change directly reduces bandwidth and storage requirements for nodes.
BPO is a lightweight hard fork mechanism that "changes parameters without altering code." It allows Ethereum to address scaling issues without waiting for a major hard fork every time blob parameters need adjustment.
03 Performance Leap: Scaling from 6 to 21 Blobs
Prior to the Fusaka upgrade, Ethereum could process only 6 blobs per block—a limitation that severely restricted data throughput between Layer 1 and Layer 2.
This upgrade, leveraging PeerDAS, increases the number of blobs per block from 6 to between 21 and 48. The consensus is that this represents up to an 8-fold increase in capacity.
The block gas limit will also rise from 30 million to 60 million, and some technical sources suggest it could go as high as 150 million. This enhancement will boost Layer 1’s transaction processing power to the 40–60 TPS range.
04 Market Impact: Layer 2 Ecosystem and Price Dynamics
From a market perspective, the Fusaka upgrade is seen as one of the catalysts for Ethereum’s potential return to the $3,000 level. Recently, the Ethereum price has shown significant volatility, surging from around $2,852 to nearly $2,980.
Crypto analyst Ted Pillows notes that if Ethereum can stabilize above $3,000, it could further extend to $3,400.
For Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, the reduced bandwidth pressure from Fusaka will directly translate to lower transaction fees. Theoretically, network throughput could soar to over 10,000 TPS.
Institutional investors are also showing renewed interest in Ethereum. As of November 26, spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded net inflows for four consecutive trading days, totaling $60.8 million.
05 Layered Upgrade: A Three-Step Path to Stable Scaling
The Fusaka upgrade adopts a cautious "three-step" strategy rather than a one-off approach to ensure network stability and security.
The first phase is the Fusaka upgrade on December 3, with parameters set at Target: 6 / Max: 9, consistent with the Pectra release. This acts as a "safety observation period" to validate the stability of PeerDAS under current network traffic.
The second phase, BPO 1, is planned for December 9, adjusting parameters to Target: 10 / Max: 15.
The third phase, BPO 2, is expected on January 7, 2026, with parameters finally set at Target: 14 / Max: 21. This will result in a final capacity 2.3 times greater than before the upgrade.
06 Developer Changes: New Limits Introduced by EIP-7825
A major change in the Fusaka upgrade is the introduction of EIP-7825, which sets a gas limit per transaction.
Before the upgrade, a single transaction could consume the entire block’s gas, posing a DoS risk in parallel execution environments. After the upgrade, each transaction’s gas usage will be capped at 2²⁴, approximately 16.78 million gas.
This change will directly impact operations that require high gas, such as heavy contract deployments, large batch operations, and routers/aggregators that chain multiple calls in one transaction. Developers will need to split large operations into multiple transactions.
07 Competitive Landscape: Rollup Strategies on Ethereum
The Fusaka upgrade will gradually transform Ethereum’s mainnet into a high-capacity settlement platform. This strategic shift marks Ethereum’s evolution from an "execution platform" to a "settlement and data availability layer."
Rollup-based Layer 2 solutions will benefit from a more favorable environment, as they can utilize mainnet data availability more efficiently.
Additionally, EIP-7917 introduces deterministic proposer preview functionality, paving the way for "Ethereum-based" rollups. In this model, Ethereum validators will be responsible for ordering Layer 2 transactions.
08 Next Steps: From Fusaka to Glamsterdam
Following the Fusaka upgrade, Ethereum’s next major update is already on the agenda: the Glamsterdam upgrade, expected in 2026.
Glamsterdam plans to introduce two key technologies: ePBS (embedded proposer-builder separation) and BALs (block-level access lists).
These innovations will further optimize Ethereum’s approach to maximum extractable value and improve execution efficiency. If Fusaka is implemented successfully as planned, it will mark Ethereum’s transition from isolated upgrades to a unified scaling strategy, balancing decentralization with high throughput.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin remains optimistic about the network’s future, hinting at possible further increases in the gas limit while maintaining network security.
Looking Ahead
In the Layer 2 ecosystem, Arbitrum node operators are already preparing for the changes. For Optimism and Base, as well as other major Layer 2 networks, the same technical benefits will be realized.
Ethereum has completed its transformation from a "world computer" to a "global settlement layer." Fusaka is the key technological milestone driving this shift, redefining Ethereum’s role and boundaries in the crypto world.
With Layer 2 transaction fees entering the "cent" era, what does this mean for the cryptocurrency market? The answer: this upgrade not only reduces transaction costs but, more importantly, may trigger a redistribution of ecosystem activity and traffic, opening a new chapter for the Ethereum ecosystem.
