During an AMA session on Reddit , Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin allowed the network gas limit to be increased to 40 million (+33%) to increase throughput.
The gas limit represents the maximum computing power that can be expended on processing transactions or executing smart contracts in a single block. Currently, its permissible volume is at the level of 30 million.
“The indicator has not increased for almost three years, which is the longest period in the entire history of the protocol (the double jump in the graph at the end of 2021 is “fake”, since it reflects the transition to EIP-1559, which increased the “limit” by 2 times, but the actual average increased by only 9%,” the developer explained.
However, Gnosis Limited co-founder Martin Köppelmann noted that increasing the gas limit would lead to higher operating costs for validators. But he believes the benefits of the initiative outweigh the potential problems.
Unlike other innovations in Ethereum that required hard forks, this change is implemented by validators adjusting node configurations.
Gas Limit Increase and EVM Overhaul
Lead developer of the Base L2 protocol, Jess Pollack, also expressed support for the changes.
“I strongly support increasing the gas limit on Ethereum to 40-45 million – we have power reserves in the network, and this will be beneficial for all participants,” he wrote.
In a Reddit thread, Buterin expressed his readiness to accept the proposal to remove the 32 ETH limit for validators ( EIP-7251 ). However, before this, it is necessary to obtain “strict guarantees [of the integrity of validators],” the developer explained.
Answering the question about the second EVM , the co-founder of the second cryptocurrency by capitalization allowed for its complete replacement with smart contracts with the successful development of ZK-SNARK. This would significantly reduce the total number of lines of Ethereum code, he said.
At the end of December, Buterin shared plans for the development of Ethereum in 2024, presenting an updated roadmap.
Previously, he proposed reviving the “cypherpunk” revolution that was conceived for the network at the dawn of its existence.
In November, the developer released an essay “My Techno-Optimism,” where he shared his opinion on the impact of blockchain and artificial intelligence on the development of human civilization.
I’m strongly in support of increasing @ethereum gas limit to 40-45m – we have the network headroom and will be beneficial for all parties https://t.co/GQb8SbavAY
— Jesse Pollak (jesse.xyz) ?️ (@jessepollak) January 10, 2024
