The Hoodi Fork completion on October 28th represents a crucial milestone for Ethereum's development roadmap. According to Nethermind, an Ethereum execution client, the testnet activation proceeded without major issues, following successful deployments on Sepolia and Holesky testnets earlier in October. Sepolia underwent its upgrade on October 14th, while Holesky had been activated for initial testing on October 1st before being formally decommissioned.
Despite the technical achievement, Ether's price showed minimal reaction to the news, falling over 2% to trade around the $4,000 mark. Market participants remained cautious amid broader macroeconomic uncertainty, particularly with the Federal Open Market Committee meeting occurring simultaneously, which typically introduces volatility to risk assets like ETH.
Revolutionary Protocol Enhancements
The Fusaka upgrade serves as a direct successor to the Pectra upgrade implemented in early May, building upon its foundation of streamlined validator operations and account abstraction via EIP-7702. The centerpiece of Fusaka involves introducing Blob Parameter Only (BPO) forks, which will progressively increase the network's blob capacity through targeted hard forks.
Among the key technical improvements, Fusaka will implement Peer Data Availability Sampling through EIP-7594, enhancing how nodes access Layer-2 data. The upgrade also introduces Verkle Trees for more compact state proofs and increases the block gas limit, promising improved throughput on Ethereum's base layer. These blobs, essentially binary large objects, enable Layer-2 rollups to post data more efficiently onto Ethereum, significantly reducing transaction fees while maintaining network security.
Phased Implementation Strategy
The rollout strategy demonstrates Ethereum's methodical approach to network upgrades. The mainnet activation on December 3rd will introduce core protocol changes including PeerDAS, Verkle Trees, and updated gas parameters. This initial phase establishes the foundation for subsequent improvements.
The first Blob Parameter Only fork, scheduled for December 17th, will increase the blob count per block to 10 with a maximum capacity of 15. A second fork tentatively planned for January 7, 2026, will further expand this to 14 blobs with a maximum of 21, effectively doubling the network's current data capacity. This aggressive scaling strategy directly addresses criticism about Ethereum's transaction throughput and positions the network for enhanced Layer-2 ecosystem growth.
Looking Ahead: The Fusaka upgrade represents a pivotal moment for Ethereum's scalability roadmap. With its three-stage implementation and focus on blob capacity expansion, the upgrade sets the stage for significantly improved Layer-2 performance and reduced transaction costs, potentially catalyzing the next wave of decentralized application development on the Ethereum network.
