New Week in Ethereum 2025-10-17

Week in Ethereum News

October 17, 2025

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Highlight of the Week

• The Fusaka upgrade is progressing well with Sepolia BPO1 coming next on October 21, and a tentative mainnet date of December 3, 2025 was discussed at the ACDC #167 call.

Eth R&D Protocol Call(s)

• All Core Devs - Consensus (ACDC) #167, October 16, 2025:

  • Fusaka upgrade:

    • Testnets are progressing well with no major issues reported

    • Sepolia BPO1 (Blob Parameter Only) coming next at 2025-10-21 03:26:24 UTC

    • Tentative mainnet timeline discussed: client releases by November 3, 2025, and mainnet activation on December 3, 2025 (not yet confirmed)

    • The $2 million Fusaka audit contest has concluded with no findings that would delay the upgrade

  • Blob APIs:

    • Discussion about recent changes to blob APIs that caused confusion among L2s

    • Concerns about blob retrieval under PureDOS, particularly for decentralized sequencers

  • Glamsterdam upgrade:

    • Trustless payments in ePBS discussion - team decided to keep the current design despite added complexity

Fusaka (Osaka + Fulu) upgrade

• Ethereum Foundation published a blog post addressing an important change in the Fusaka upgrade that affects blob transaction originators (e.g., L2s). EIP-7594 (PeerDAS) changes the format for proofs from blob proofs to cell proofs, which allows for downloading specific parts of blobs instead of whole blobs for data availability sampling.

  • L2s and other blob originators need to update their transaction sending code to create cell proofs

  • Some L2s noticed their deployments on Sepolia didn't work properly due to this change

  • Client libraries expose functionality to create these proofs via ComputeCellsAndKZGProofs()

• Testnet activations are proceeding as scheduled:

  • Holesky: October 1, 2025 (completed)

  • Sepolia: October 14, 2025 (completed)

  • Hoodi: October 28, 2025 (upcoming)

Glamsterdam (Amsterdam–G-Star) Upgrade

• EIP-7732 (enshrined Proposer-Builder separation/ePBS) and EIP-7928 (Block-level Access Lists) have been confirmed as the headliner EIPs for the Glamsterdam upgrade.

• EIP-7805 (Fork-Choice Inclusion Lists/FOCIL) has moved to "Considered for Inclusion" status, providing strong censorship resistance guarantees.

• 30 EIPs have been proposed for inclusion in the Glamsterdam upgrade, covering areas such as:

  • Improved gas metering and pricing (EIP-7904, EIP-7976, EIP-7999, EIP-8011)

  • Contract size and deployment improvements (EIP-7903, EIP-7907)

  • New EVM opcodes and functionality (EIP-7791, EIP-7939, EIP-7843)

  • Security and cryptography enhancements (EIP-7932, EIP-7980)

Layer 1

• RFC: Nodes are only required to publish custody columns from reconstruction was discussed during ACDC #167, proposing to change a condition in the spec from "should" to "may" to reduce bandwidth requirements for non-super nodes.

• Blob retrieval guarantee post Fusaka - Aztec raised concerns about blob retrieval under PureDAS, particularly for decentralized sequencers, with discussions about potential solutions including light super nodes and custom tooling.

Research

• State Expiry: In-protocol vs. Out-of-protocol - A new research post exploring different approaches to implementing state expiry in Ethereum.

• Interactive No Opt-in Stealth Addresses - A new approach to stealth addresses that doesn't require recipients to opt in.

• Private Multisig v0.1 - Research on implementing private multisignature wallets.

• Unstoppable Sequencing: Permissionless Batching for Rollup Resilience - A proposal for improving rollup resilience through permissionless batching.

Layer 2

• Optimism documentation has undergone a complete transformation, announced by OP Labs, providing developers with improved resources for building on the OP Stack.

• Fusaka Update for blob users was released, with Marius van der Wijden warning L2s about EIP-7594 changes to proof formats that affected Sepolia deployments and urging blob originators to update their software to create Cell Proofs.

Stuff for Developers

• Foundry:

  • Nightly release includes performance improvements for EVM operations, fixes for formatter issues, and enhanced test functionality.

  • v1.4.1 stable release delivered bugfixes for forge fmt and anvil, including improvements to comment handling and debug tracers.

• EVM Version Cheatcodes were added to Foundry, allowing developers to set and get EVM versions during tests with the new setEvmVersion/getEvmVersion functions.

Security

• Infrastructure of Scam Cities report detailing how human trafficking operations in Myanmar use Starlink dishes, cryptocurrency flows, and AI to power digital scams that have stolen approximately $10 billion from victims.

Ecosystem

• 2026 Ethereum Foundation Internship Program offering paid, full-time opportunities for candidates to work directly with teams advancing the Ethereum protocol and ecosystem for 12 weeks over the summer.

Centralization watch: threatening the value of your ETH

• 🚨 Lido at 23.44%, still too close to the 33.3% threshold.

• Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):

  • Execution layer: Geth ~41% & Nethermind ~38%

  • Consensus layer: Lighthouse ~42.71% & Prysm ~30.91%

  • Any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality.

• Better geographic diversity is optimal, particularly outside of North America & Europe.

Client Releases

• Consensus layer:

  • Lighthouse v8.0.0-rc.1: Release candidate for the upcoming Fulu-Osaka (Fusaka) hard fork, targeting Holesky, Hoodi, and Sepolia testnets. Includes full Fusaka support with PeerDAS, enhanced networking capabilities, and other optimizations.

EIPs/Standards

• EIPs (Core, Networking, Interface):

  • EIP-7773 (Hardfork Meta – Glamsterdam): PFI EIP-7904, EIP-8011, EIP-8037, and EIP-8038 for Glamsterdam

  • EIP-7928 (Block-Level Access Lists): Clarify coinbase + upper limit constants

  • EIP-7937: Explicitly assign C056/C057 to JUMP/JUMPI

• ERCs (Application Layer):

  • EIP-7999 (Unified Multidimensional Fee Market): Minor edits

Onchain Stats

• Fees (via ultrasound.money):

  • Gas: 0.1 to 12.4 gwei, 0.6 gwei average; zero net issuance at 16.2 gwei

  • 17.87 ETH net issuance this week

• ETHUSD: $3,686 – $4,277, currently $3,863, all-time high $4,946

• ETHBTC: currently 0.036 (Flippening at ~0.165)

Regulation/Business/Tokens

• G20’s Financial Stability Board warns of “significant gaps” in global crypto rules — Calls for stronger international coordination, with particular concern around stablecoins.

• Bank of England says stablecoin caps will only lift once risks are contained — BoE stresses financial stability remains the priority.

• UK FCA backs tokenised funds on public blockchains to attract younger investors — Would allow asset managers to issue regulated “on-chain funds.”

• Kenya parliament passes crypto asset law to boost investments — Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill brings oversight under the central bank and capital markets authority.

Upcoming Dates of Note

• Oct 28: Fusaka testnet run on Hoodi, second testnet activation for the upcoming Ethereum hard fork.

• Oct 28–29: Blockchain Life in Dubai, UAE – One of the world’s largest blockchain and crypto forums, uniting global leaders, investors, and innovators to explore Web3, DeFi, and the future of digital assets.

• Nov 5–6: ETHWomen Florida 2025 in Florida, USA – A women-focused Ethereum hackathon and summit driving inclusion and innovation.

• Nov 10–13: Web Summit 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal – Global tech event with dedicated blockchain and Ethereum programming tracks.

• Nov 17–22: Devconnect Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires, Argentina – A week-long Ethereum gathering with deep dives, workshops, and the Ethereum World’s Fair.

• Dec 11–13: Solana Breakpoint 2025 in Abu Dhabi, UAE – While Solana-focused, it includes multi-chain ecosystem discussions relevant to Ethereum builders.