The Ethereum Layer 1 (L1) network recently achieved a significant milestone, processing a record-breaking 1.91 million transactions in a single day. This unprecedented throughput was accompanied by remarkably low average transaction fees of just $0.16. This event, highlighted by Etherscan, demonstrates Ethereum's enhanced capability to manage substantial network traffic without making it prohibitively expensive for general users, marking a crucial step in the network's ongoing scaling efforts.

This impressive combination of high transaction volume and low costs is a direct consequence of two major network upgrades implemented in 2025: Pectra and Fusaka. The Fusaka upgrade, which was deployed earlier in the month, is identified as the primary catalyst for the record-breaking transaction count. Fusaka directly expanded the capacity of the Ethereum L1 blockchain by increasing the size of each block by approximately 33%. This allowed the L1 network to accommodate significantly more transactions within every block.

A key innovation introduced with Fusaka is PeerDAS. Previously, all nodes were required to download all data, creating a potential bottleneck. PeerDAS addresses this by enabling nodes to verify large chunks of transaction data, known as "blobs," through sampling only small parts of them. Blobs, initially introduced in the earlier Dencun update, were further expanded with Fusaka. These blobs act as 'sidecars' attached to the main block, efficiently carrying data without competing with standard transactions, thereby contributing to the network's increased capacity and reduced congestion.

The Pectra upgrade, which took place in May, established foundational improvements for scaling. It optimized how Layer 2 (L2) networks, such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, interact with the main Ethereum chain. Pectra notably doubled the number of available data "sidecars" (blobs) per block, increasing them from three to six. This increased supply of space for L2 data significantly reduced the cost for L2s to "settle" transactions on Ethereum, effectively preventing congestion on the main network.

Despite these considerable successes with the 2025 upgrades, the journey toward complete Ethereum scalability is not yet finished. The Ethereum ecosystem still faces challenges, particularly with fragmentation. Users often encounter difficulties and complexities when attempting to transfer and utilize funds across different L2 networks due to complicated bridging mechanisms. Furthermore, the Ethereum network's "State," which comprises all accounts, balances, and smart contracts, continues to grow. If the State reaches terabytes or petabytes in size, it could become too large for an average user to run a full node, posing a long-term challenge to decentralization and accessibility.