Ethereum P2P Network Strengthens as Institutional ETH Buying Rises
Early results from PeerDAS show that the Ethereum Foundation can now deliver advanced peer-to-peer (P2P) networking upgrades at scale, co-founder Vitalik Buterin said.
In a post on X Monday, Buterin noted that Ethereum had long lacked deep P2P expertise, having focused heavily on crypto economics, byzantine fault-tolerant consensus, and block-layer research while largely taking the network layer for granted. “The sentiment has changed,” he added, praising Raúl Jordan and other contributors for getting PeerDAS operational.
PeerDAS, a prototype for Data Availability Sampling (DAS), is critical to Ethereum’s sharding roadmap. It enables light clients to verify shard data by sampling small portions, improving scalability while maintaining decentralization and security.
Buterin also emphasized the need for an on-chain gas futures market. Prediction markets on BASEFEE could provide clearer expectations for future gas costs and allow teams to hedge congestion risk.
The announcements coincide with renewed institutional ETH accumulation. BitMine Immersion Technologies, Ethereum’s largest corporate holder, purchased 138,452 ETH last week—around $435 million—raising its treasury to 3.86 million ETH. Chairman Thomas Lee said the Fusaka upgrade and expectations of easing macro conditions motivated the accelerated purchases.
BitMine frames its buying as a strategic investment in Ethereum’s execution layer and scaling roadmap, rather than short-term trading. The combination of institutional demand and enhanced P2P infrastructure could shape sentiment around Ethereum’s next scaling phase, as debates over future blockspace costs continue.
