Ethereum reshapes protocol roadmap through Pectra and Fusaka

Ethereum underwent significant protocol and organisational changes in 2025 despite subdued price performance.

The year was marked by leadership restructuring, major technical upgrades and renewed strategic focus.

Early 2025 saw internal tension within the Ethereum Foundation following criticism from the community.

Critics accused the foundation of losing direction and called for stronger leadership.

In February, executive director Aya Miyaguchi became president of the foundation.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pledged to reform leadership structures.

Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K Stańczak were appointed co-executive directors.

The foundation launched Etherealize as a new marketing and narrative unit.

Danny Ryan, a former researcher, was named to lead the initiative.

Governance reforms continued through spring with board and mission updates.

The foundation refocused its mission around cypherpunk values and protocol stewardship.

Mid-year restructuring consolidated research teams and resulted in layoffs.

In May, Ethereum activated the Pectra upgrade.

Pectra combined the Prague and Electra hard forks.

The upgrade introduced account abstraction through EIP-7702.

Validator stake limits increased to 2,048 ETH.

Blob throughput expansion improved Layer 2 scaling capacity.

More than 11,000 EIP-7702 authorisations were created within days.

Ethereum launched its Trillion Dollar Security initiative after Pectra.

The programme focused on protocol risks and user safety improvements.

Treasury management shifted as ETH holdings were partially reallocated.

Developers later turned attention to Fusaka.

Fusaka introduced a twice yearly upgrade schedule.

PeerDAS was highlighted as critical for Layer 2 scalability.

Interoperability initiatives aimed to unify Ethereum’s rollup ecosystem.

Privacy research accelerated through dedicated roadmap releases.

Vitalik Buterin introduced Kohaku to support private applications.

The block gas limit increased to 60 million in November.

Fusaka activated shortly after, formalising Ethereum’s new cadence.

Ethereum named Hegota as its next planned upgrade.

At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $2,981.41 .