As cryptocurrency markets continue to navigate recent volatility, Ethereum made a decisive move on December 3, 2025. The launch of its Fusaka upgrade triggered a powerful rally, with the asset’s price climbing over 8% in a single day to approach $3,050. This surge appears to have halted a corrective phase, but the more compelling story lies in the simultaneous, massive accumulation of ETH by large-scale investors.
Whales Place Bullish Bets Ahead of Network Changes
In the immediate lead-up to the upgrade, on-chain data revealed substantial purchases by major investors, signaling strong institutional confidence. The activity included:
- A purchase of 18,345 ETH, valued at approximately $55 million, sourced from BitGo.
- An acquisition of 4,597 ETH, worth around $13 million, via the Binance exchange.
- A third entity buying 30,278 ETH for $91 million from Kraken.
- BitMine Immersion reporting a purchase of 96,798 ETH, equivalent to roughly $173 million.
This concentrated buying spree, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, is interpreted by market analysts as a signal that informed players view the Fusaka upgrade as a potential inflection point for the network.
Technical Overhaul: A Deep Dive into the Fusaka Upgrade
Activated at 21:49 UTC on December 3, the Fusaka upgrade represents Ethereum’s second major network enhancement of 2025. Its name is a portmanteau of “Fulu” (consensus layer) and “Osaka” (execution layer), pointing to its comprehensive technical improvements.
The upgrade introduces several key innovations aimed at radically improving network efficiency and scalability:
- PeerDAS for Data Storage: A revolutionary change that requires nodes to store only about one-eighth of blob data—an 80% reduction. This paves the way for Layer-2 networks to achieve up to 8x theoretical scalability.
- Increased Gas Limit: The block gas limit rises from 45 million to 60 million units, enabling more transactions and greater network capacity.
- Native Passkey Support: By integrating Apple Secure Enclave and Android Keystore, the upgrade could render seed phrases obsolete, potentially attracting more institutional investment.
- Phased Rollout: A flexible approach will see two further blob optimizations deployed on December 9, 2025, and January 7, 2026, without requiring additional hard forks.
Layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base are positioned to be primary beneficiaries, with transaction costs potentially falling by 40 to 60%. Base has already announced it could double its throughput within two months following the upgrade.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Ethereum?
Market Analysis: Trap or True Reversal?
From a chart perspective, Ethereum’s price action shows classic signs of a bear trap. After declining to a range between $2,600 and $2,800 in early December, the asset broke below the lower boundary of a descending channel before sharply reversing upwards.
The immediate technical target is now $3,100, matching last Friday’s high, with further potential toward $3,500. Critical support remains in the $2,600-$2,700 zone.
Derivatives markets echo this bullish sentiment. The taker buy volume for perpetual swaps surged to $148.7 million, which CryptoQuant analyst Maarten Regterschot characterized as a “strong signal for aggressive market buying.” Rising futures volume also suggests the establishment of new long positions.
Historical Precedent and Long-Term Outlook
The previous major upgrade, Pectra in May 2025, propelled Ethereum’s price 29% higher in a matter of days. Market experts note that while Pectra focused on staking efficiency and account abstraction, Fusaka’s impact could be more structurally significant due to its focus on fundamental infrastructure scaling.
Stephen Gregory, founder of the Vtrader trading platform, expressed optimism: “I believe the correction has run its course, and macroeconomic tailwinds will push Ethereum higher again.”
However, analysts caution that Fusaka’s true success will be measured over the long term by sustainable Layer-2 growth and continued institutional adoption, not by short-term speculative moves.
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