Ethereum's total assets have surged to approximately $135 billion, driven largely by institutional accumulation and staking, as highlighted in VanEck's September report. This growth underscores a shift where major entities are locking up ETH to earn rewards, though it introduces dilution risks for non-staking holders who may see reduced influence and returns.
The upcoming Fusaka upgrade, scheduled for December 2025, aims to enhance Ethereum's scalability and efficiency. A key feature is Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), which allows validators to verify blocks by sampling smaller data pieces instead of downloading entire datasets. This reduces bandwidth and storage demands, enabling an expansion of blob capacity—data slots used by Layer-2 rollups—to lower transaction costs for solutions like Coinbase's Base and Worldcoin's World Chain, which currently account for about 60% of rollup data.
VanEck emphasizes that Fusaka reinforces Ethereum's role as a monetary asset by improving security for rollup settlements, even as base layer fee revenue declines. However, investors should note that unstaked ETH faces dilution from institutional staking trends, while the upgrade's cost reductions and efficiency gains are expected to attract more developers and users, bolstering long-term adoption.
