Ethereum Co-Founder Proposes 16.77 Million Gas Limit Cap to Prevent DoS Attacks

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has introduced Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7983, which aims to cap the gas limit per transaction at 16.77 million units. This proposal is designed to enhance the security and stability of the Ethereum network by preventing Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. By setting a maximum gas limit, the proposal ensures that no single transaction can monopolize the network's resources, thereby maintaining a balanced and efficient network.

The primary goal of EIP-7983 is to address the issue of resource monopolization by limiting the computational work that a single transaction can demand. Each gas unit represents a measure of computational effort required to execute a transaction on the Ethereum network. By capping the gas limit at 16.77 million units, the proposal aims to mitigate the risk of spammy attacks and ensure that the network remains efficient and secure. This move is part of a broader effort to evolve the Ethereum network and adapt to the growing demands and challenges it faces.

The implementation of EIP-7983 would set a protocol-level gas ceiling of 16.77 million units per transaction. This change is expected to improve network security by preventing any single entity from overwhelming the network with high-gas transactions. The cap will help in securing and stabilizing the Ethereum network, making it more resilient to potential attacks and ensuring that all users have fair access to the network's resources. The proposal is a proactive measure to address the evolving needs of the Ethereum community and to ensure the network's long-term sustainability.

EIP-7983 also aligns with the broader goals of improving compatibility with zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVMs), which are critical for scaling the Ethereum network. By requiring large transactions to be split into smaller chunks, the proposal ensures that Ethereum remains efficient and ready for complex decentralized finance (DeFi) operations and advanced smart contracts. This compatibility is essential for the network's long-term scalability and efficiency.

The proposed gas cap of 16.77 million units was chosen carefully to support most current use cases, including advanced DeFi and contract deployments, while reducing the risk of DoS attacks. Most existing transactions already fall below this limit, so the change is expected to have minimal impact on the majority of developers and users. However, the proposal is not backward-compatible with transactions that exceed the cap, which may require some adjustments for complex decentralized applications (dApps) and large transactions.

EIP-7983 builds on earlier proposals aimed at making transaction execution more predictable and is part of a broader push by Buterin to simplify Ethereum's base protocol. His vision includes overhauling the architecture across consensus, execution, and identity layers to build a stronger, more efficient Ethereum over the next few years. The gas cap proposal is a practical step in that direction, addressing current network challenges while laying the groundwork for long-term improvements.