Ethereum is advancing toward a major milestone in blockchain performance with the Fusaka upgrade, which aims to increase its gas limit by more than three times. From a current ceiling of 45 million, the upgrade raises the gas limit to 150 million, a significant boost designed to improve speed, efficiency, and scalability.
The upgrade is part of Ethereum’s broader strategy to keep pace with competitors like Solana, which has built a reputation for high throughput and low latency. With demand for tokenization and decentralized applications accelerating, Ethereum’s ability to handle more transactions efficiently has become critical to maintaining its leadership position in the crypto ecosystem.
Fusaka Successfully Clears Holesky Testnet
On October 1, Ethereum’s protocol developers confirmed that Fusaka had passed testing on the Holesky testnet, marking an important step toward its full rollout. The next phases include deployment to Sepolia and Hoodi testnets before a scheduled mainnet release in December, assuming no major issues arise.
This progress comes just months after the Pectra upgrade in May, which focused on improving protocol efficiency. Fusaka, however, is more ambitious: it enhances data handling by allowing lighter nodes to sample data rather than download it entirely, reducing storage requirements while expanding network bandwidth.
Why the Gas Limit Increase Matters
A central feature of the Fusaka upgrade is the dramatic increase in the gas limit. Gas represents the computational cost of executing transactions and smart contracts on Ethereum. By tripling this capacity, Ethereum opens the door to processing significantly more transactions per block.
This change has major implications for Layer 2 networks (L2s), which already help scale Ethereum by bundling transactions before settling them on-chain. With Fusaka, these L2s will benefit from cheaper costs and more efficient throughput, making Ethereum’s scaling ecosystem even stronger.
For users, this means potentially lower fees and faster transaction confirmations. For developers, it means greater flexibility to build applications that require more bandwidth, such as tokenized financial assets or high-volume trading protocols.
Ethereum’s Race With Solana
The push to raise Ethereum’s gas limit reflects growing competition within the blockchain sector. According to Chainspect, Ethereum currently ranks 18th in terms of transaction throughput and speed, lagging far behind newer networks optimized for performance.
Solana, for instance, is the second-fastest blockchain by throughput and latency, giving it a reputation as a strong contender for handling internet capital markets and large-scale tokenization. While Ethereum still dominates in terms of adoption and developer ecosystem, its performance gap has raised concerns.
The Fusaka upgrade represents Ethereum’s direct response to this challenge, reinforcing its goal of remaining the primary settlement layer for both decentralized finance and institutional-grade tokenized assets.
ETH Price Reacts to Upgrade Progress
Ethereum’s price reacted positively to the Fusaka milestone, rising 5% in the immediate aftermath. Much of the upward movement was also attributed to Bitcoin’s rally past $119,000, which lifted the broader crypto market.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum was trading above $4,500, with bulls watching closely to see if the asset can clear short-term supply zones and establish a stronger trendline breakout. A move beyond this level could set the stage for further rallies into the $5,000 zone, aligning with renewed speculative interest in ETH futures.
Futures Market Shows ETH Outperformance
Derivatives data underscores Ethereum’s strengthening position. In the 24 hours following the Fusaka update, ETH’s open interest (OI) in futures markets surged 4%, compared to a 3% rise in Bitcoin and a 2% increase in Solana.
This divergence suggests traders are increasingly positioning themselves for Ethereum’s outperformance in the near term, particularly as its scaling roadmap comes into sharper focus.
The elevated open interest highlights higher speculative demand for ETH, signaling that investors see more upside potential as the network prepares for December’s mainnet rollout of Fusaka.
Institutional and Retail Interest in Ethereum
The combination of scalability improvements and market performance is reinforcing Ethereum’s role as a go-to asset for both institutional and retail participants. Institutional players remain attracted to Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem, staking yields, and its pivotal role in tokenized assets.
Retail traders, meanwhile, view Ethereum’s competitive positioning against Solana as a bullish narrative, especially as Fusaka promises lower costs and faster confirmations.
The timing also coincides with broader growth in tokenization markets, where Ethereum has already secured partnerships with major financial institutions experimenting with blockchain-based settlement.
What Comes Next for Fusaka and Ethereum
Looking ahead, Ethereum developers plan to carefully monitor Fusaka’s rollout on Sepolia and Hoodi testnets before greenlighting a mainnet upgrade in December. Any unexpected bugs could delay the timeline, but so far, the process has been smooth.
If successful, Fusaka will position Ethereum for the next phase of growth — handling tokenization at scale, competing with faster blockchains, and making decentralized finance more efficient.
For now, the market response suggests optimism. With ETH outperforming both Bitcoin and Solana in speculative positioning, the stage may be set for Ethereum to reclaim momentum as it prepares for one of its most significant scaling milestones yet.
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