The Ethereum blockchain has been going through constant maintenance and retooling ever since its launch in 2015.
Ethereum’s core team of developers implement a key upgrade or two every year to ensure the blockchain of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization runs smoothly for validators, stakers, and other people closely associated with network.
After Ethereum’s key Merge upgrade in 2022, changes have been consistently made to the mainnet blockchain after testing on Holesky, a testnet that developers would use to sample their upgrades to check for effectiveness.
It was used for testing of the Pectra upgrade, which went live in May, and was also used to test out the Fusaka upgrade.
What will the new Fusaka upgrade do?
Ethereum’s latest upgrade, called Fusaka, is slated for a hard launch on Wednesday and aims to improve efficiency by changing the way validators process data.
Up until now, validators were relying on data chunks referred to as ‘blobs’ to ensure the information contained in transactions is legitimate. They had to download all of the data to do so, making it a cumbersome process.
The Fusaka upgrade will now allow validators to check only a portion of the data, ensuring that the process of verification is sped up, reducing costs for the network when implemented. This means better efficiency, lower effort to maintain data integrity, and avoiding bottlenecks.
What upgrades happened before this?
The main upgrades done to Ethereum’s blockchain so far include:
- The Merge (2022): This change made Ethereum transition from a proof-of-work blockchain to a proof-of-stake blockchain. This reduced transaction fees and energy costs for the blockchain overall and, at the time, gave Ethereum the status of being the more environmentally friendly alternative to Bitcoin.
- Shanghai Upgrade (2023): Validators who had their ETH locked within the system via staking protocols got relief with this one, as the Shanghai or Shapella update to the mainnet allowed validators to withdraw their staked Ethereum.
- Dencun Upgrade (2024): Blobs were introduced as part of the Dencun Upgrade, which reduced transaction fees substantially. This allowed transaction data to be packaged more efficiently and sent to validators.
- Pectra Upgrade (2025 May): This upgrade was part of a larger overhaul, which saw 11 improvement proposals all aimed at improving scalability anf efficiency. One notable improvement was the increase of staking limits from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. This was a key benefit for institutions that wanted to store more ETH as validators for the purpose of earning larger staking rewards.
What other upgrades are expected for the future?
As of now, crypto enthusiasts are waiting for a new upgrade called Glamsterdam, which will be focused on repricing of gas fees, improvements on the developer UX side, and other key elements of the mainnet. Its hard launch is slated for 2026.