Ethereum's Fusaka Upgrade Set for December Launch to Enhance Network Efficiency

According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum's core developers have scheduled the network's next significant hard fork, known as Fusaka, for early December. This upgrade aims to enhance the network's scalability and efficiency. The Fusaka upgrade is set to go live on December 3, with an increase in blob capacity planned for two weeks later, around December 17. A subsequent blob capacity hard fork is expected on January 7, 2026. Ethereum researcher Christine D. Kim noted that these blob capacity hard forks will more than double the current capacity. Before the Fusaka upgrade is implemented on the Ethereum mainnet, three public testnets are planned between early October and mid-November. The Ethereum developer community, ethPandaOps, shared on social media that the initial conclusion supports a maximum blob count of 15 for BPO1 and 21 for BPO2. A total of five BPOs are planned for Fusaka to ensure safe scaling of the mainnet. BPO (Blob-Parameter Only) forks adjust parameters related to blob targets and limits without requiring client-side updates. Blobs, which store large data sets off-chain, enhance layer-2 network efficiency and reduce transaction costs. Since the Dencun upgrade, blob usage has steadily increased, with the average blob count per block rising from 0.9 in March 2023 to 5.1 currently. The Ethereum Foundation announced a four-week code audit program on Monday, offering $2 million to developers who identify and report vulnerabilities in the Fusaka codebase. The Fusaka launch follows the Pectra upgrade on May 7, which increased the validator staking limit, introduced account abstraction, and improved layer-2 network efficiency. Meanwhile, Ethereum's exit queue has reached an all-time high, with 2.6 million ETH, valued at $12 billion, entering the exit queue last week. The queue for entering the staking pool is at a four-week low due to concerns about selling pressure from unstaked ETH. The current wait time for the exit queue is approximately 43 days, according to the Ethereum Validator Queue. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin defended the protocol's lengthy exit queue, stating that reducing the limit would compromise the chain's trustworthiness. His comments were in response to concerns raised by Galaxy Digital's head of DeFi, Michael Marcantonio, who described the exit queue length as troubling.