Ethereum Proposes 100x Gas Limit Increase for 2,000 TPS

Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist has proposed a significant plan to enhance the scalability of the Ethereum mainnet. The proposal, known as EIP-9698, suggests a four-year roadmap to increase the gas limit by 100 times, which could theoretically boost the network's transaction processing speed (TPS) to 2,000 transactions per second. This ambitious plan aims to address the long-standing issue of scalability on the Ethereum blockchain, making it more competitive with high-throughput blockchains.

Feist introduced EIP-9698 on April 27, outlining a "deterministic gas limit growth schedule" that would begin at epoch 369017, expected around June 1. The proposal suggests a gradual increase in the gas limit by a factor of 10 over approximately two years, followed by a final tenfold boost. This steady rise is designed to give node operators and developers ample time to adapt to the changing network demands, aligning with anticipated improvements in hardware and protocol efficiency. Feist emphasized that this method would foster a sustainable and transparent path forward for Ethereum’s base layer.

Under the proposal, Ethereum’s current gas limit of 36 million would expand to 3.6 billion, allowing about 6,000 transactions to fit within each block. This represents a significant increase compared to today’s capabilities, where Ethereum can process around 20 TPS during periods dominated by simple transactions. The proposal comes on the heels of a February decision where Ethereum validators agreed to lift the gas limit from 30 million to 36 million, following the London hard fork in August 2021, which doubled the gas limit from 15 million to 30 million.

While the proposal promises significant improvements, it also introduces new challenges. Feist acknowledged that rapidly scaling the gas limit could put pressure on less-optimized nodes and extend block propagation times. However, the gradual, exponential growth plan is designed to give node operators ample opportunity to prepare. EIP-9698 represents the latest in Ethereum’s ongoing efforts to scale at the base layer. In recent years, much of Ethereum’s scalability work has shifted toward Layer 2 solutions. However, critics argue that an overreliance on Layer 2s fragments the ecosystem, hurting user experience and creating isolated chains with limited interoperability.

By focusing once again on the mainnet, EIP-9698 aims to enhance scalability without sacrificing the cohesion that made Ethereum the leading smart contract platform. The Ethereum developer community is also pursuing additional initiatives to increase scalability. EIP-9678, part of the planned Fusaka hard fork, proposes a fourfold increase in Ethereum’s gas limit. Fusaka could go live as early as late 2025, offering another major capacity boost. Meanwhile, the next big Ethereum upgrade, Pectra, is scheduled to launch in May. Pectra will deliver other enhancements but is not focused on increasing TPS as directly as EIP-9698 or EIP-9678.