Ethereum Fusaka Hard Fork Preview: Focus on Scalability Upgrade

Fusaka has entered the final testing and planning phase, with the Mainnet activation time 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.

Unlike the user-end features introduced by the Pectra upgrade, such as account abstraction and increased limits on verification nodes.

Fusaka integrates 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP), optimizing core protocol parameters, enhancing security, and improving Gas efficiency. There will be no smart contract optimization.

This selected long article is translated by Benpao Finance · Web3.0 Reading 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 resilience.

Block Gas Limit Increase: Proposed to raise from the current level to 150 million units, allowing more transactions per block, but will weigh the trade-off of decreased block propagation speed and network storage pressure.

Controversial Adjustment Paused: To avoid delaying testing, EIP-7907 (which doubles the contract code size limit and introduces new measurement rules) has been withdrawn.

The community's opinions have also been adopted. The Ethereum protocol supports member Nixo in adhering to a strict timeline to ensure that Fusaka is launched before the key developer conference Devconnect (November 17-22).

Upgrade Highlights Overview

Gas Capacity Expansion: The block Gas limit has been increased to 150 million units, allowing each block to contain more transactions, which helps to reduce fees and accelerate transactions during high load periods.

Security Hardening (EIP-7825): New attack mode defense mechanism to reduce network interruption risk.

Adjustment of Code Measurement Rules: Although EIP-7907 has been postponed for implementation, relevant optimizations may still be included in future upgrades.

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

Upgrade Roadmap Evolution

Ethereum strictly follows upgrade cycles. After Pectra went live, the core development team (AllCoreDevs) immediately started discussions for a new version, and Fusaka was eventually selected.

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

Specific Route

Development Network Launch: The first version of the developer test network will go live in mid-July 2025.

Public Testnet 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 Devconnect conference in Buenos Aires (November 17-22).

If progress goes smoothly, the development team will assess the test results in November and activate the upgrade at the predetermined 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 enhance network capacity and defense capabilities, helping Ethereum solidify its position in the competition of high-speed public chains and Layer 2 solutions, creating a better operating environment for DeFi applications, blockchain games, and other scenarios.