#Ethereum Improvement Proposal Aims to Boost Transaction Capacity

According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist has proposed a new Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-9698) that could substantially raise the Ethereum mainnet’s gas limit, potentially boosting its transaction capacity. Unveiled on April 27, the proposal introduces a "deterministic gas limit growth schedule" starting at epoch 369017expected around June 1, 2025. This schedule would steadily increase the gas limit over two years, ultimately reaching a tenfold rise.

Feist, also known for developing the "danksharding" data solution, stated that Ethereum clients must vote to adopt the proposal. He explained that EIP-9698 aims to implement a predictable exponential gas limit growth as a default setting, supporting a sustainable and transparent increase in line with hardware and protocol improvements. Currently, Ethereum can process about 20 transactions per second (TPS) for simple transactions. The proposed 100x gas limit hike could theoretically raise TPS to around 2,000—making it more competitive with platforms like Solana, which handles 800–1,050 TPS, with a theoretical max of 65,000 TPS.

This proposal would raise the gas limit from 36 million to 3.6 billion, potentially allowing up to 6,000 transactions per block. It follows a recent validator decision to increase the limit from 30 million to 36 million in February. The last significant change occurred in August 2021 during the London hard fork, which doubled the gas limit from 15 million to 30 million. While Feist noted that a rapid gas limit hike could put pressure on less-optimized nodes and slow block propagation, the gradual, epoch-based increase gives developers and operators time to adjust.

EIP-9698 marks another attempt to scale Ethereum at the base layer, supplementing recent efforts focused on layer-2 scaling solutions. Critics argue that the L2-centric approach has fragmented the ecosystem, creating isolated chains and a less seamless user experience. Ethereum developers are also considering $ETH $BTC