Ethereum Proposes 100x Gas Limit Increase Over Four Years

Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist has put forth a bold proposal to significantly enhance the scalability of the Ethereum blockchain. The proposal, detailed in Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 9698, aims to increase the gas limit by 100 times over four years. This initiative would commence around June 1, 2024, with a gradual increase in the gas limit by a factor of 10 over approximately two years, culminating in a final tenfold increase.

Feist's proposal introduces a "deterministic gas limit growth schedule," designed to create a predictable exponential growth pattern. This approach is intended to foster a sustainable and transparent gas limit trajectory, aligning with anticipated advancements in hardware and protocol efficiency. The current gas limit of 36 million would expand to 3.6 billion, potentially accommodating around 6,000 transactions per block. This increase could theoretically boost Ethereum's transactions per second (TPS) from the current 20 TPS to 2,000 TPS, positioning Ethereum to compete more effectively with high-performance blockchains like Solana.

This proposal follows recent adjustments to Ethereum's gas limit. In February, validators agreed to raise the gas limit from 30 million to 36 million. The last significant change occurred in August 2021 under the London hard fork, where the gas limit was doubled from 15 million to 30 million. Feist acknowledges potential challenges, such as stress on less-optimized nodes and increased block propagation times. However, he argues that the gradual increments per epoch provide ample time for node operators and developers to adapt and optimize.

EIP-9698 represents a shift in the Ethereum community's approach to scalability. While layer 2 solutions have been the primary focus in recent years, critics argue that this strategy has fragmented the ecosystem, leading to siloed chains with limited interoperability and a poorer user experience. Feist's proposal aims to address these issues by enhancing the base layer's capacity, thereby improving overall scalability and efficiency.

In addition to EIP-9698, Ethereum developers are exploring another significant increase in the gas limit through EIP-9678. This proposal, planned for testing in the Fusaka hard fork, aims for a fourfold increase in the gas limit. Fusaka is expected to go online in late 2025, while the next major Ethereum upgrade, Pectra, is scheduled for May. These developments underscore the Ethereum community's commitment to enhancing the blockchain's performance and positioning it as a leading player in the competitive landscape of high-performance blockchains.