What happened?
Ethereum is rolling out the Fusaka upgrade after Pectra, with testnet trials starting this month and a possible mainnet launch by November or December 2025. Fusaka aims to cut transaction fees and lower the cost of running a validator by introducing smarter data distribution like PeerDAS so nodes share the work. If it works as planned, the upgrade should make Ethereum faster, cheaper, and more accessible.
Who does this affect?
Everyday users and traders stand to benefit from lower gas fees and faster transactions, while ETH holders could see price moves based on sentiment and demand. Developers, dApp teams, and layer-2 projects like Arbitrum get better scalability and lower costs to build and scale products. Institutional players and projects focused on tokenizing real-world assets also get a more practical platform to launch enterprise use cases.
Why does this matter?
From a market perspective, Fusaka could materially increase demand for ETH by improving usability and attracting more on-chain activity, which supports higher prices. A decisive break above $5,000 could trigger a larger rally toward $10,000 as liquidity, trading volumes, and investor interest climb. That momentum would likely spill over into layer-2 tokens and related presales, drawing more institutional capital and amplifying a broader crypto market upswing.