The Ethereum development teams have successfully taken the final major step towards implementing the next important upgrade, which will enhance scalability on the network. Earlier this week, the Fusaka hard fork became activated on the final testnet called Hoodi, paving the way for enhanced peer data availability sampling. This marks the dress rehearsal before its scheduled launch on the Ethereum mainnet in early 2025, paving the way for the Pectra upgrade.
This event came as a result of months of testing and collaboration between multiple ETH teams, including the Ethereum Foundation and ConsenSys. As Fusaka got released on Hoodi, it seems completely technically ready to be deployed on the Ethereum mainnet, ensuring robust verification processes for smart contracts. This launch will take place as soon as the final audits and checks are completed.
Still, the crypto market has not reacted too positively to this event. The launch of the final testnet has coincided with the second-largest cryptocurrency diving from the $4,230 level down to around $4,000 over the past three days, raising concerns about the impact on the upcoming Fusaka upgrade.
Fusaka – here’s what this is about
Hoodi serves as a testnet for final testing before any Ethereum upgrade, including the integration of peer data availability sampling, is officially moved to the main chain. Hoodi allows developers to replicate mainnet conditions and lets them spot and solve any last-minute issues and bugs between various Ethereum clients: Geth, Prysm, Teku, etc., ensuring the robustness of smart contracts. Once Fusaka is successfully rolled out on this testnet, the developers will ensure that all major client teams have managed to reach full and seamless interoperability and make sure that no crucial issues are detected during block finalization or consensus validation. Once that is done, it will push the Ethereum team and community closer to reaching another key stage in Ethereum’s evolution.
The Fusaka hard fork introduces several critical improvements in the spheres of scalability, gas costs for particular transfer types, and validator efficiency – the gas costs will be reduced, and the rest is to be optimized to make Ethereum easier to utilize and increase the network’s attractiveness for users and dapp builders.
Even though Fusaka is not as transformative for Ethereum as earlier upgrades (The Merge or Dencun), it still helps move Ethereum further on its long-term roadmap and implement such fundamental features in the future as Verkle trees and statelessness. These two upgrades will allow Ethereum to increase its throughput and lower hardware requirements for node runners through the implementation of rollups. It also prepares the ground for seamless integration of Layer-2 solutions and scaling techniques on Ethereum in the future. Besides, the Fusaka upgrade will certainly improve the security of the Ethereum network.
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The Ethereum community celebrates Fusaka on Hoodi
The ConsenSys team celebrated this achievement by showcasing the benefits of the new verification methods introduced with the Fusaka upgrade, enhancing transaction costs and bandwidth. publishing a post on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, pointing out that the smooth launch of Fusaka on Hoodi is the final milestone before the long-awaited Ethereum mainnet upgrade.
ConsenSys also thanked the wide community of Ethereum developers for spending months preparing this Fusaka upgrade launch in cross-client collaboration to enhance scalability and efficiency. It stressed the importance and the strength of such a coordination, particularly in the context of the upcoming Fusaka upgrade. Besides, for the community, this big step is much more than just another technical achievement and victory. It is about the demonstration of resilience and maturity of the decentralized software development process, which is governed by no central body, and yet it keeps implementing crucial and highly ambitious upgrades year after year. Once Fusaka is deployed on the Ethereum mainnet, the community’s focus of attention will shift towards the scalability and efficiency of the Ethereum network. Osaka upgrade, scheduled next on the ETH roadmap.
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Investors show global sentiment shift towards Ethereum and other large cryptos
Outside the tech sphere, Ethereum’s progress has coincided with a spike of global investor interest in crypto assets, including the Pectra upgrade and gold. It has been driven by the current macroeconomic trends that are much bigger than the blockchain sphere, particularly the rise of scalable solutions like rollups. According to Larry Fink, the adoption of Ethereum is accelerating., the CEO of the world’s largest fund manager, BlackRock, institutional investors are currently going for both gold and crypto assets, particularly the two largest coins – Bitcoin and Ethereum – amid the rising concerns about fast-increasing national debts around the world, including the rapidly expanding US national debt.
In a recent interview, Fink stated that trust in the traditional financial system and its assets continues to fade, and more institutional and retail investors are embracing “real assets” and decentralized alternatives to stocks and bonds to hedge inflation risks and long-term devaluation of fiat currencies.
Ethereum and financial products based on it, such as spot ETFsCrypto assets, including Ethereum and the Pectra upgrade, are one of the choices that investors are opting for at the moment. Thanks to the SEC, not only Bitcoin, but Ethereum as well has been acknowledged as a digital commodity, and ETH, as well as tools based on it, provide a sustained platform for tokenized assets that do not require any traditional intermediaries.
