The Ethereum Improvement Proposal aims to increase transaction capacity
AI Summary
According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist has introduced a new Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-9698) that could significantly increase the gas limit of Ethereum's mainnet, potentially enhancing its transaction capacity. The proposal, presented on April 27, suggests a "deterministic gas limit growth schedule" starting in epoch 369017, approximately around June 1, 2025. This schedule would gradually increase the gas limit by a factor of 10 over two years, culminating in a final tenfold increase.
Feist, known for the blockchain data storage solution "danksharding," emphasized that Ethereum clients would need to vote on the proposal for it to be implemented. He stated that the EIP aims to introduce a predictable exponential growth pattern as a client defect, promoting a sustainable and transparent trajectory of the gas limit aligned with advancements in hardware and protocol efficiency. Currently, Ethereum can achieve up to 20 transactions per second (TPS) in blocks dominated by simple transactions. The proposed increase in the gas limit by 100x could theoretically elevate Ethereum's TPS to 2,000, positioning it to compete with platforms like Solana, which processes between 800 and 1,050 TPS and has a theoretical TPS of 65,000.
The proposal would expand the current gas limit from 36 million to 3.6 billion, potentially accommodating around 6,000 transactions in Ethereum blocks. This initiative follows a recent decision by Ethereum validators to increase the gas limit from 30 million to 36 million in February. The last adjustment to Ethereum's gas limit occurred in August 2021 during the London hard fork, which doubled the limit from 15 million to 30 million.
