New Week in Ethereum 2025-10-17

Week in Ethereum News

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.

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)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

🚨 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.

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 (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

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)

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.

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.