According to Cointelegraph, an Ethereum developer has proposed a significant change to the network's block time, suggesting a reduction from 12 seconds to six seconds. This proposal, known as Ethereum Improvement Proposal 7782, was discussed on June 21 by core developer Barnabé Monnot. The aim is to improve transaction confirmation times and enhance user experience by adjusting the timing of various blockchain operations. Monnot explained that shorter slot times could potentially increase the economic value of Ethereum's core service as a settlement and confirmation layer.
The proposal, initially created in October 2024, is expected to be part of the Glamsterdam update scheduled for late 2026. By that time, Monnot anticipates significant scaling improvements, including blocks with three times the current gas limit and eight times the blob supply. The motivation behind EIP-7782 is to speed up the network, allowing new blocks to be proposed twice as often, which would enhance transaction inclusion and provide a more responsive chain. This would result in fresher data displayed in wallets and more frequent updates to onchain data, improving experiences across wallets, decentralized applications (DApps), and layer-2 networks.
The proposal also highlights benefits for trading and decentralized finance (DeFi), such as faster price updates on decentralized exchanges and reduced losses from arbitrage traders exploiting price differences. Monnot noted that faster slots lead to more liquidity, resulting in lower trading fees for users and increased network effects for Ethereum. However, there are potential tradeoffs, including challenges for slower or poorly connected validators due to tighter timing requirements, higher bandwidth demands from more frequent consensus messages, and the risk of network congestion during peak usage periods. Extensive testing would be necessary to avoid network instability and ensure smart contracts remain functional.
EIP-7782 suggests adjustments to three key subslot timings: block proposal time would decrease from four seconds to three, attestation time from four seconds to 1.5 seconds, and aggregation time from four seconds to 1.5 seconds, reducing the overall slot time by six seconds. Monnot believes that following this reduction would be an excellent option for Ethereum and should be seriously considered for the Glamsterdam update. The update is still in its early design stages, focusing on gas optimizations and protocol-level efficiency improvements to make Ethereum faster and cheaper to use.
