Ethereum mainnet upgrade! Fusaka data throughput surges 8x, lower user fees

Ethereum has successfully launched the Fusaka upgrade at epoch 411,392. This Ethereum upgrade introduces the PeerDAS mechanism, increasing Rollup data throughput by up to 8 times, providing lower user fees, and optimizing user experience through the R1 curve and preconfirmation mechanism. It also prepares the network for future scaling, such as increasing the L1 gas limit.

PeerDAS Mechanism: A Technological Revolution with 8x Throughput

(Source: James, Head of Ecosystem, Ethereum Foundation)

The core feature of the Ethereum upgrade is Peer-to-Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), which provides significant scalability for Ethereum and Layer-2s. According to the Ethereum Foundation, for L2s and Rollups, PeerDAS will “unlock up to 8x data throughput,” as it creates a much more efficient way to process information across the network.

In simple terms, PeerDAS splits entire Rollup data blocks into smaller cells. This drastically reduces the amount of data nodes need to download and upload, enabling faster message processing and allowing L2s to interact with Ethereum mainnet more efficiently. The genius of this design is that it doesn’t require every node to store the full data block—each only keeps a small piece, with mathematical proofs ensuring the integrity and availability of the entire dataset.

The Ethereum Foundation states: “For Rollups, this means lower blob fees and greater room for growth (and lower user fees). All of this is achieved while maintaining the network’s decentralization.” This last point is crucial, as many blockchains sacrifice decentralization for performance. The Ethereum upgrade, through PeerDAS, achieves both performance and decentralization.

Core Improvements Brought by PeerDAS

8x Throughput Increase: Theoretically, the amount of data processed per second increases significantly.

Reduced Node Burden: Each node only processes part of the data, lowering hardware requirements.

Lower Blob Fees: The cost for L2s to submit data to mainnet drops significantly.

Decentralization Maintained: Scaling is achieved without sacrificing network decentralization.

From a technical architecture standpoint, PeerDAS uses Erasure Coding technology. Originally used in satellite communications and data storage systems, this allows for complete information to be reconstructed even if parts of the data are missing. Applied to Ethereum, even if only some nodes store data fragments, the network can still ensure data integrity and availability.

Preconfirmation Mechanism: From Minutes to Milliseconds in User Experience

The Ethereum Foundation notes that Fusaka brings Ethereum closer to delivering “near-instant transactions,” with speed improvements leading to a smoother user experience. “Fusaka lays the foundation for ‘instant experience.’ The preconfirmation mechanism can significantly reduce transaction latency—from several minutes to just milliseconds. Combined with lower transaction costs, this opens up new possibilities for improving user experience.”

The Preconfirmation mechanism is an underrated yet important feature in this Ethereum upgrade. Traditionally, after a transaction is submitted on Ethereum, users must wait for the next block (about 12 seconds) for initial confirmation, and several blocks (usually 2 to 3 minutes) for finality. This delay leads to poor user experience in time-sensitive scenarios such as DeFi trading and NFT minting.

Preconfirmation allows validators to promise users that their transaction will be included before the block is officially produced. While not equivalent to finality, this promise is highly reliable in most cases, as it is backed by the validator’s reputation and staked assets. For users, this means transaction feedback can be received within milliseconds, greatly improving the experience.

This improvement is crucial for Ethereum’s competition with high-performance chains. Competitors like Solana and BSC have long touted fast transaction confirmations. With the preconfirmation mechanism, Ethereum significantly narrows this experience gap while maintaining its advantages in security and decentralization.

The introduction of the R1 curve is another technical highlight. This is a new elliptic curve that optimizes the efficiency of generating and verifying zero-knowledge proofs. As zkRollup becomes the mainstream scaling solution for L2s, a more efficient proving system will directly lower L2 computational costs and verification latency, further boosting overall system performance.

Laying the Groundwork for Raising the Gas Limit

This Ethereum upgrade also prepares for future scaling, such as increasing the L1 gas limit. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has stated that tripling the gas limit is “just the baseline, we can go even higher.” The many technical improvements in the Fusaka upgrade lay the foundation for such aggressive scaling strategies.

The gas limit determines how many transactions can be included in each block. Raising the gas limit can directly increase Ethereum mainnet throughput, but also increases the computation and storage burden on nodes. The PeerDAS mechanism reduces node data processing pressure, creating the technical conditions needed to raise the gas limit in the future. When nodes no longer need to process entire data blocks, they have more computing resources available to execute more transactions.

The community will continue to monitor system operations over the next 24 hours. This is standard procedure for Ethereum upgrades, as any major protocol change may reveal edge cases or unexpected behaviors. So far, the upgrade has launched smoothly, with no major technical issues or network forks.

From a long-term strategic perspective, Fusaka is an important milestone in Ethereum’s “The Surge” roadmap. The goal of this phase is to increase Ethereum’s total throughput (including L1 and all L2s) to over 100,000 transactions per second. PeerDAS solves the data availability bottleneck, preconfirmation improves user experience, and R1 curve optimizes the proving system. The combination of these technologies is steadily turning this vision into reality.

Market Response: Analysts Predict a New Bull Run

Given the many fundamental improvements Fusaka brings, the market is closely watching Ethereum’s price movement. On Sunday, MerlijnTrader posted on X to his 404,700 followers, highlighting the impact of the previous Pectra upgrade on ETH and predicting an even larger increase this time. “Pectra triggered a 58% rise. Faka’s strategy is a strong rebound. Price is currently lagging behind fundamentals, but that won’t last long.”

On November 29, Bitcoin OG @LLuciano_BTC told his 2 million X followers: “Fusaka feels bigger in scale, it’s a catalyst that could trigger a real rally,” adding, “Ethereum is finally demonstrating how far it can scale while staying true to its core design.”

These bullish predictions aren’t without basis. Historically, major Ethereum upgrades have generated market attention and capital inflows. The Merge upgrade shifted Ethereum from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, creating a deflationary mechanism for ETH in the long term, despite short-term price volatility. The Shanghai upgrade unlocked staking withdrawals, removing the last major concern for investors. Each major technical advancement has further cemented Ethereum’s position as the leading smart contract platform.

What makes Fusaka unique is its direct improvement to user experience and economic efficiency. Lower fees, faster transactions, and higher throughput are substantial upgrades that can attract new users and capital to the ecosystem. As L2 blob fees drop, the cost of using networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base will decrease further, making the Ethereum ecosystem more attractive in competition with other blockchains.