Ethereum Fusaka upgrade activated: ETH surges past $3,200, is $4,200 the next stop?

The Ethereum network successfully activated the highly anticipated Fusaka hard fork upgrade on the night of December 3, marking its second major network enhancement in 2025. The core of this upgrade—PeerDAS technology—officially went live, aiming to unlock up to 8x data throughput for rollups and increase the block gas limit. Driven by this significant positive development, Ethereum’s price surged accordingly, soaring 7.38% within 24 hours and strongly breaking through the key $3,200 resistance level. Market watchers are closely observing whether this rally can replicate the 56% surge following the Pectra upgrade in May, which could see Ethereum further challenge the $3,653 and even $4,262 targets.

Fusaka Upgrade: A Decisive Step Toward the Decade-long “Sharding” Dream

In the early hours of December 4 Beijing time, the Ethereum mainnet smoothly activated the upgrade codenamed “Fusaka” at block height 18,200,000. The community has high hopes for this upgrade primarily because it introduces PeerDAS, a data availability sampling technology. Simply put, this technology allows each validator node on the network to store and verify only a small portion of a “data block” instead of downloading all the data. This significantly reduces node burden while ensuring security, paving the way for exponential growth in future data capacity.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin could hardly contain his excitement after the upgrade, stating: “PeerDAS in Fusaka is important because it truly represents ‘sharding’. Sharding has been Ethereum’s dream since 2015, and data availability sampling has been a dream since 2017—now we have it.” His words highlight the historical significance of this upgrade—it marks a substantial step toward Ethereum’s long-term vision of sharding, achieved not overnight but through a progressive roadmap.

In addition to PeerDAS, the Fusaka upgrade includes several supporting optimizations: raising the block gas limit from 45 million to 60 million units, adding support for R1 curve signatures (improving user experience and privacy), and introducing a “data block-only parameter” configuration change mechanism, allowing future data capacity adjustments without a full hard fork. These changes collectively constitute a heavyweight, infrastructure-oriented update designed to strengthen Ethereum’s efficiency and scalability as a settlement layer from the ground up.

Immediate Market Reaction: ETH Breaks Key Resistance on Volume, Whales Accumulate Quietly

The successful activation of the upgrade immediately elicited a positive response in the secondary market. According to market data, Ethereum’s price steadily climbed after the upgrade, surging from the $3,150 range within hours and breaking through the dense resistance zone between $3,154 and $3,200. At press time, Ethereum is trading at $3,231, up 7.38% over the past 24 hours, with trading volume rising sharply from $28.2 billion to $32 billion in six hours.

This price action is not merely “hype trading.” On-chain data provides strong support. Early analysis from Santiment notes that the price increase was accompanied by robust accumulation from “shark wallets” (addresses holding 1,000 to 10,000 ETH). Specifically, the number of addresses holding at least $1 million in ETH rose from 13,322 to 13,945, meaning large holders accumulated approximately $623 million worth of Ethereum during this period. Such “smart money” moves are often seen as leading indicators of market trend sustainability.

From a technical analysis perspective, the current trend interestingly echoes the period before the Pectra upgrade in May. At that time, Ethereum surged 56% within seven days post-upgrade. The chart now shows a classic bullish divergence: while price made lower lows between November 4 and December 1, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) formed higher lows—typically signaling waning selling pressure and laying the foundation for a price reversal to the upside.

Fusaka Upgrade and Key Market Data Overview

Upgrade Core: PeerDAS successfully activated, a key step toward data sharding.

Technical Improvements: Theoretical 8x increase in rollup data throughput; block gas limit raised from 45 million to 60 million.

Price Performance: ETH breaks through the key $3,200 resistance, up 7.38% in 24 hours, now at $3,231.

On-chain Dynamics: Number of addresses holding over $1 million in ETH increased by 623, with whales accumulating about $623 million.

Trading Volume: Within six hours post-upgrade, global trading volume rose from $28.2 billion to $32 billion.

Historical Reference: After the Pectra upgrade in May 2025, ETH surged 56% in seven days.

Outlook: Can the Rally Be Repeated? Key Price Levels Analyzed

With the critical $3,200 resistance now flipped to support, the market is naturally eyeing higher targets. Technical analysts note that the next major target is near $3,653. A more intriguing scenario: if the Fusaka upgrade can replicate the enthusiasm and percentage gains of the Pectra upgrade—rising 56% from the current breakout point—Ethereum could challenge highs of $4,262.

Of course, the market’s path is never a straight line. While optimism is warranted, it’s also vital to clarify defense levels. Currently, $3,200 is the first important short-term support. Should the price fall and break below $2,996, the recent bullish structure would be weakened, and the market may test support at $2,873 or even $2,618. Therefore, whether ETH can steadily hold above $3,200 will be the litmus test for whether this Fusaka-driven rally is a flash in the pan or the start of a new bull phase.

Industry experts generally believe the Fusaka upgrade’s impact will be profound and gradual. Sygnum Bank noted in a research report that as the network’s data handling capacity and efficiency improve, the effects will gradually manifest as increased fee burning and higher validator rewards. While not instant, this process will accumulate value as network activity grows. For institutions relying on Ethereum for asset tokenization, the upgrade’s performance predictability and cost stability are key factors in evaluating whether the public chain can support large-scale issuance and trading activity.

Deeper Impact: Reshaping the Rollup Ecosystem and Institutional Adoption Threshold

The significance of the Fusaka upgrade goes far beyond short-term price fluctuations—the deeper impact lies in reshaping the competitive landscape and economic models of Ethereum’s entire Layer 2 rollup ecosystem. Alchemy CTO Guillaume Poncin noted that this upgrade will “change the competitive positioning between rollups” and help “define the downstream effects for the next cycle.” This is because PeerDAS directly reduces the cost and complexity for rollups to submit data to the mainnet, enabling networks like Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism to maintain low transaction fees over the long term—even if user demand explodes in the future.

For institutions seeking compliance and large-scale adoption, the upgrade’s “predictability” is crucial. Brickken co-founder and CEO Edwin Mata explained that by reducing the data load rollups and validators must process, the network becomes more predictable in terms of performance and cost. “This predictability is exactly what regulators are looking for when assessing whether a public chain can support large-scale issuance and secondary market activity.” Mata also added that Fusaka effectively “lowers the operational threshold for node participation,” which helps broaden the validator base, reduce centralization risk, and meets capital markets’ core requirement for a resilient, single-point-of-failure-free network.

Thus, Fusaka is not just a technical iteration—it’s a major foundational upgrade for Ethereum’s future “institutional-grade” application scenarios. It enables Ethereum to move towards higher throughput, more stable costs, and a more developer-friendly environment while maintaining decentralization and security.

PeerDAS Explained Simply & Ethereum’s Recent Upgrade Roadmap

How Does PeerDAS Work? Like a Library

Imagine Ethereum as a vast public library, with each rollup-submitted data block like a new book. Before PeerDAS, every librarian (validator node) had to read the entire new book to check if its contents were complete and correct—a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. After PeerDAS, the rules change: each librarian no longer needs to read the whole book, but instead randomly checks a few pages (random sampling). As long as enough librarians each check different pages and find no issues, you can be highly confident that the book as a whole is intact. This method uses efficient “probabilistic assurance” instead of inefficient “full inspection.”

Recent Major Ethereum Upgrades (2023–2025)

Shanghai Upgrade (April 2023): Completed the final step of the transition to Proof of Stake (PoS), enabling withdrawals of staked ETH and greatly boosting staking confidence.

Cancun-Denver Upgrade (March 2024): Introduced Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844), which significantly reduced data publishing costs for Layer 2 with “blobs,” marking a milestone in Layer 2 development.

Prague Upgrade (Mid-2025): Mainly introduced preliminary support for Verkle trees, paving the way for “stateless clients” and further improving node scalability.

Fusaka Upgrade (December 2025): This upgrade implements PeerDAS (data availability sampling), a crucial step toward full sharding, continuously optimizing data availability costs.

The dust settling from the Fusaka upgrade, along with the subsequent price breakout, paints a vivid picture: in the crypto world, solid technical progress remains the most reliable engine of long-term value. When Vitalik Buterin looks back at the sharding dream that began in 2015, Fusaka represents not the end, but a new beginning that proves the feasibility of the progressive path. For the market, breaking $3,200 signals sentiment recovery; for developers, it lays the cornerstone for building more complex applications; for institutions, it’s another key indicator for evaluating whether this global settlement layer can support trillions in assets. Whether short-term prices can repeat the Pectra glory remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: with this upgrade, Ethereum has once again demonstrated its determination and execution in quietly refining foundational infrastructure amid the noisy market cycles. The road to the “world computer” is now clearer and sturdier than ever.