During a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) event hosted by the ethereum Foundation research team, the protocol's co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested a “modest” increase in its gas limit to improve network performance.
Buterin noted that the gas limit has not been increased for almost three years, marking the longest period in the history of the protocol.
The gas limit proposal
“Honestly, I think even today it's reasonable to make a modest increase in the gas limit.” ethereum/comments/191kke6/comment/kh7ekx3/” data-wpel-link=”external” target=”_blank”>saying Buterin during the AMA.
Buterin proposed an increase to approximately 40 million. According to Etherscan, the existing gas limit amounts to 30 million, indicating that Buterin's proposal would require a 33% increase.
ethereum gas limit refers to the maximum amount of gas spent executing transactions or smart contracts in each block. Gas is the fee required to make a transaction or execute a contract on the ethereum blockchain.
Increasing the gas limit allows for more transactions in each block, which theoretically increases the overall performance and capacity of the network.
There are also potential risks associated with increasing ethereum's gas limit. Larger blocks require additional energy for miners to process and finalize, which can increase the chances of chain splits and abandoned blocks.
a look back
The average gas limit just after the introduction of ethereum in 2015 was around 3 million, which has increased over time along with network usage and adoption.
In April 2021, the ethereum network witnessed a major milestone: miners increased the gas limit from 12.5 million to 15 million.
This decision, proposed by Buterin, was motivated by network improvements after the Berlin hard fork, which improved the platform's security and prepared it for the gas limit increase.
The main goal of this change was to alleviate network congestion caused by the increase in the price of Ether. As a result of this adjustment, the gas limit has consistently remained at a level of 30 million.
2023 also saw an increase in network gas rates to a maximum of 150 gwei in May due to the sign-up madness. A gwei is an ethereum denomination that represents one billionth of a single Ether.
Average gas prices are currently around 35 gwei or $1.89, according to Etherscan. However, they have increased since early 2024 and are much higher for complex smart contract operations.
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