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Ethereum’s weekly All Core Developer meetings can be overwhelming, so this “Checkpoint” series aims to provide succinct updates approximately every 4-5 calls, contingent on developments in core design. Review the previous summary here.
tl;dr:
The last month focused on solidifying the outline of the Fusaka enhancement and final deployment particulars for Pectra. The Pectra upgrade is set to launch on mainnet in nearly a week, after which attention will pivot to Fusaka testing and determining what will be incorporated into the Glamsterdam upgrade (in other terms, the “outline” of the upgrade). A new All Core Developer (“ACD”) meeting format will separate testing and outlining into distinct calls to enhance and hasten the deployment of upgrades.
Pectra
Mainnet client releases are available for the Pectra enhancement and it’s set to activate on May 7th.
Since the previous Checkpoint, Pectra went live on Ethereum’s latest long-term testnet, Hoodi. The deployment went smoothly, much to the satisfaction of client developers and testing groups who were cautious about celebrating prematurely after troublesome Holešky and Sepolia upgrades.
In reaction to these problematic upgrades, safeguards were put in place in the form of formal processes, anticipated timeframes between testnet upgrades and mainnet upgrade scheduling, incident response roles, and configuration standardization.
Pectra’s primary features are outlined on the Ethereum.org Pectra page and a watch event will occur following the fork going live.
History expiry
History expiry enables clients to cease storing pre-Merge history, alleviating hardware and network demands. This does not necessitate a hard fork. Clients are expected to support pre-Merge history expiry on the Sepolia network by May 1st. Support for mainnet is anticipated shortly after Pectra’s mainnet launch.
Long-lasting history will remain accessible through archive nodes and the Portal network and client implementations will permit users to optionally disable pruning.
Fusaka
The highlight of the Fusaka hard fork is PeerDAS and the comprehensive outline has been established.
Beyond the highlighted EIP,
Not all of the CFI’d EIPs will necessarily be integrated into the fork (two of them, 7762 & 7918, are either/or). They’ll be included in the testing pipeline and transitioned to SFI if their implementation advances without introducing significant issues. Fusaka fork testing will incorporate multiple devnets, followed by testing on testnets, before being slated for mainnet. The deployment of PeerDAS is critical!
PeerDAS
PeerDAS enables nodes to authenticate blobs by sampling rather than requiring the entire payload, creating room in bandwidth and storage needs for other enhancements. This paves the way for scaling – cryptographically secure sampling methods mean that we can expand without compromising Ethereum’s decentralized validator network. Testing continues, having just completed its sixth devnet, with the seventh scheduled to launch this week. The testing has been a collaborative endeavor among client teams, Ethereum Foundation personnel, L2 core developers, and researchers in network tools.
EOF
EOF is a multi-EIP enhancement to the EVM. Due to a stark divide on views regarding (and what
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edition of) EOF ought to be enacted, as it was excluded from the Fusaka plan during the 28 Apr EOF “final decision” conversation. It may still be suggested for upcoming enhancements.
Discussions focused on its intricacy, long-term significance, and the possibility of integrating its features gradually instead. Detractors contend that it might double upkeep expenses (legacy + EOF) and requires additional evaluation from application layer developers.
Proponents and implementors recognize its flaws, yet argue that it’s essential for addressing technical debt, enhancing security, unlocking compiler & gas-efficiency improvements, and creating a more streamlined basis for future EVM progression.
BPO forks
The third EIP highlighted for Fusaka is the Blob Parameter Only (BPO) forks. This would facilitate pre-established blob scaling between hard forks. Blob increments would be incorporated into clients and occur on a predetermined timetable while being watched for any issues. This EIP enjoys widespread support and is crucial for enhancing scalability.
Process enhancements
Pectra has tested the boundaries of the current All Core Devs process – this upgrade represents the largest fork in Ethereum’s history in terms of EIPs, and was even more substantial before it was divided into two: it initially included PeerDAS and EOF!
To enhance the efficacy of this process, modifications are taking shape that:
- Improve parallelization of upgrades so that the upgrade two forks ahead is already being scoped before the current fork is deployed (for instance, if we had the process refined right now, the Glamsterdam fork scope would be finalized while Pectra is in its final phases and Fusaka implementation is ongoing)
- Divide regular calls into “all core devs” testing and “all core devs” scoping. Testing calls would address the current fork, while scoping calls would handle CFI’ing EIPs for the next fork
- Establish a new series of calls that cover long-term objectives and steer research directions. Ideally, this would cultivate more consensus and reduce debate by the time scoping and subsequently testing take place.
Core developers are ambitiously aiming to fork to Fusaka, which prioritizes scalability, by the conclusion of 2025: feasible but challenging. In my view, if it doesn’t launch a few weeks before Devconnect, it won’t be released until February 2026 due to lost momentum over the holiday season, so a “by EOY 2025” delivery would likely be in October.
The new process involving the division of ACD calls appears promising for keeping discussions relevant, introducing fresh perspectives, and reducing the occurrence of revisiting prior discussions, so calls aren’t hindered by debates surrounding scoping as has been the case with EOF. It may also alleviate any inclination to confuse short-term deployment plans with long-term research objectives.
Despite some pessimistic chatter in broader crypto circles, there is a substantial amount of momentum in Ethereum core protocol development. The process is maturing, research is robust, and implementation is accelerating!
Relevant ACD calls
28.04.25: EOF discussion (timestamped)
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