Ethereum's second major upgrade of the year, Fusaka, has officially gone live, bringing forward supercharged data capacity, reduced transaction costs, and enhanced usability.
The upgrade went live on the Ethereum mainnet at 9:49 pm UTC on Wednesday at Epoch 411392. Its headline feature is peer data availability sampling (PeerDAS), which provides significant scaling capabilities to Ethereum and its layer 2 solutions.
Earlier this week, the Ethereum Foundation posted a detailed thread via the Ethereum X account, breaking down what the upgrade means for users, developers, node operators, Layer-2s and rollups, and enterprises.
The Ethereum Foundation stated that Fusaka brings Ethereum a step closer to providing "near-instant transactions," with the increased speed resulting in a more seamless user experience.
"Fusaka lays the groundwork for ‘instant-feel’ user experiences. Based preconfirmations allow for reduced transaction latency — moving from minutes to milliseconds. Combined with lower transaction costs, this opens the door for a new tier of usability."
In terms of L2s and rollups, Fusaka will "unlock up to 8x data throughput" via PeerDAS, as it creates a significantly more efficient way to process information on the network.
In layman’s terms, PeerDAS fragments entire blobs of rollup data into smaller cells. This results in nodes having to download and upload significantly less data, enabling them to process information faster and allowing L2s to interact with the Ethereum mainnet more efficiently.
"For rollups, this means cheaper blob fees and more space to grow (plus lower fees for users). All while keeping the network decentralized," the Ethereum Foundation stated.
Analysts Speculate Fusaka Could Fuel ETH Revival
Given the host of under-the-hood enhancements Fusaka will provide, the market is anticipating how the price of Ether (ETH) will react.
In an X post on Sunday, MerlijnTrader highlighted to their followers the impact Ethereum’s previous upgrade Pectra had on ETH, tipping the price to gain even more this time around.
"Pectra triggered a +58% move. Fusaka is built to launch harder. Price lags fundamentals. But not for long."
On November 29, Bitcoin OG @LLuciano_BTC echoed similar sentiments to his followers.
"Fusaka feels even bigger, the kind of catalyst that sparks real upside," he said, adding that "Ethereum finally shows how far scaling can go while staying true to its design."