New Week in Ethereum 2025-12-13

title: "New Week in Ethereum 2025-12-13" permalink: "/blog/20251213/"

BPO1 (Blob-Parameter-Only fork) activated on Ethereum mainnet at epoch 412,672 (Dec 9, 2025 14:21 UTC), raising blob target/max to 10/15 (see the epoch boundary block on Etherscan)

All Core Devs - Consensus (ACDC) #171, Dec 11, 2025
- Client Diversity: Concerns raised about declining client diversity with Lighthouse at 42.71%, Prysm at 30.91%, Teku at 13.86%, and Nimbus at 8.74%. Discussion about potential campaign to encourage large stakers to improve diversity.
- Fusaka Retrospective: Discussed the 2025 upgrade process retrospective to improve future upgrades.
- Glamsterdam Upgrade:
  - Trustless Payments in EIP-7732: Lighthouse team presented their opinion on trustless payments, with majority supporting continued inclusion but noting a significant minority opinion preferring delay to the next fork.
  - Non-headliner EIP Scoping: Discussed several EIPs including FOCIL, EIP-7688, EIP-8061, and EIP-8080.
- Heka/Bogotá Upgrade: Discussed the scoping process and potential portmanteau names, with "Hekotá" emerging as a leading candidate.
All Core Devs - Testing (ACDT) #63, December 8, 2025
- Focus on testing infrastructure and methodologies for upcoming network upgrades.
- Reviewed Fusaka upgrade performance and discussed testing strategies for Glamsterdam features.

Institutional Staking Concerns Raised - A representative from Fidelity's digital asset management division highlighted concerns about staking liquidity, noting that combined entry and exit queue delays reaching approximately 70 days is incompatible with traditional financial products.

Achieving 10GigaGas/s EVM Execution - A new research proposal outlines how Block-level Access Lists (BAL) combined with parallel execution could potentially achieve 10GigaGas/s EVM execution, dramatically scaling Ethereum's throughput.
Trustless Payments Research - New research explores trustless payment mechanisms that could enhance security and reduce MEV extraction, with potential applications in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade.

ZKsync Lite to shut down in 2026 as Matter Labs announced plans to sunset the older version of their Layer 2 solution in early 2026. The company framed the move as a planned transition to focus fully on ZKsync Era.
Optimism released op-deployer v0.5.2, adding support for v5.0.0 contracts and fixing error handling in game type CLI parsing. This update enables validators to work with the latest contract versions.
OKX migrates XLayer to the OP Stack, joining the growing list of major exchanges choosing Optimism's technology for their Layer 2 solutions. The migration highlights the OP Stack's security and scalability advantages..

Hardhat v3.1.0
- Sets Osaka as the default hardfork for local networks, adds Solidity 0.8.31 support, and introduces unified test output for Solidity tests + the Node.js test runner.
- @nomicfoundation/hardhat-node-test-runner@3.0.8 integrates the node test runner with unified test output; includes merged test summaries when running multiple test tasks.
Foundry nightlies (multiple pre-releases shipped during the week)
- Nightly (2025-12-06): includes an Anvil fix for incorrect historical state dumps, plus assorted CLI/verification refactors.
Remix Project v1.4.0 (released Dec 10)
- Updates ethereumjs dependencies (noted as “for fusaka upgrade”), plus multiple IDE/editor improvements and verification-related fixes.
- Adds dynamic type loading for TS/JS autocompletion, and improvements around LearnEth/tutorial handling

Stripe's Tempo blockchain testnet goes live, adding Kalshi, Mastercard, and UBS as partners. The payment-focused blockchain is being built by Stripe and Paradigm to address financial infrastructure needs.
Optimism selects Ether.fi to deploy liquid staking treasury on OP Mainnet, expanding staking options within the Optimism ecosystem.

🚨 Lido at 24.72%, still too close to the 33.3% threshold.
Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):
- Execution layer: Geth ~41% & Nethermind ~38%
- Consensus layer: Lighthouse ~50.87% & Prysm ~19.42%
- Any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality.
Better geographic diversity is optimal, particularly outside of North America & Europe.

EIPs (Core, Networking, Interface):
- EIP-7928 (Block Access List Size Analysis): Add updated BAL size analysis for 60M gas
- EIP-8024 (Backward compatible SWAPN, DUPN, EXCHANGE): Add explicit halting conditions
- EIP-7966 (eth_sendRawTransactionSync Method): Align receipt waiting semantics with reference implementation
ERCs (Application Layer):
- EIP-5593 (Restrict Ethereum Provider API Injection): Resolve MUST/SHOULD contradiction for third-party iframe blocking
- EIP-8072 (Transaction Inclusion Subscription): Fix specification inconsistencies

Fees (via ultrasound.money):
- Gas: 0.0 to 1.1 gwei, 0.2 gwei average; zero net issuance at 11.9 gwei
ETHUSD: $2,946 – $3,390, currently $4,349, all-time high $4,946
ETHBTC: currently 0.034 (Flippening at ~0.165)

Superstate rolls out direct stock issuance for public companies on Ethereum and Solana, allowing SEC-registered firms to sell shares directly on blockchain rails and raise funds in stablecoins.

Five crypto firms win initial approvals as trust banks, including Ripple, Circle, and BitGo, marking a significant step toward regulated crypto banking services.
U.S. SEC gives implicit nod for tokenized stocks, opening the door for broader adoption of security tokens representing traditional equities.
Ether surges 8%, outpacing Bitcoin gains amid staking ETF and tokenization optimism, with BlackRock's filing for a staking ether ETF contributing to ETH's relative strength.

Fusaka cementing Ethereum's role as on-chain finance settlement layer, according to Bitwise. The upgrade will boost throughput, keep validators efficient, and strengthen Ethereum's value capture by putting a floor under blob fees.
ZKsync Lite to shut down in 2026 as Matter Labs moves on, framing the move as a planned sunset as the company focuses on newer solutions.

December 9, 2025: BPO1 fork - First Blob Parameter Only fork increasing blob target/max to 10/15
Dec 11–13, 2025: Solana Breakpoint 2025 in Abu Dhabi, UAE – While Solana-focused, it includes multi-chain ecosystem discussions relevant to Ethereum builders.
January 7, 2026: BPO2 fork - Second Blob Parameter Only fork increasing blob target/max to 14/21
February 1-28, 2026: ETH Riyadh in Riyadh, KSA - the Middle East's premier Web3 summit.
June 8-10, 2026: ETHConf in New York, USA - gathering 5,000+ founders, speakers, industry leaders, and builders.