Initiative launched to increase gas limit
Core Ethereum developers have launched the “pump the gas” campaign with the goal of increasing the blockchain’s gas limit from 30 million to 40 million. The objective of this initiative, announced on March 20, is to reduce transaction fees on the primary layer of Ethereum by 15% to 33%. Eric Connor, a prominent Ethereum developer, and Mariano Conti, former head of smart contracts at MakerDAO, are leading this campaign through a newly established website. Their aim is to accommodate a 33% increase in daily transaction volume on Ethereum, which could result in significant reductions in layer-1 transaction fees.
The campaign is driven by concerns that although the introduction of data blobs in the Dencun update through EIP-4844 has successfully lowered layer-2 transaction prices, layer-1 fees have remained unchanged. The developers believe that by raising the gas limit and utilizing data blobs, scalability can be greatly improved for both the layer-1 and layer-2 networks. Crypto.news attempted to reach out to Connors for further insights but did not receive a response.
Gas, measured in gwei (a fraction of Ether), is used for completing transactions and executing smart contracts on the Ethereum network. The gas limit is a critical parameter as it determines the maximum amount of gas that can be used in a block for transactions or smart contracts. Since August 2021, the gas limit has been set at 30 million.
Standardizing the gas limit ensures that block sizes remain manageable, thereby maintaining network speed and synchronization. Validators can dynamically adjust these limits based on specific criteria when forming new blocks.
Raising the gas limit is intended to allow for more transactions per block, leading to a faster and more capable network. However, this also increases the demand for hardware resources, which in turn poses greater risks of network spam and vulnerability to attacks.
In the past, the gas limit has been gradually adjusted to accommodate the network’s growth. In January, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, proposed raising the limit to 40 million, garnering growing support within the community.
This proposal has received support within the Ethereum community, with active discussions and endorsements on social media platforms. A Rocket Pool validator has already proposed a block with the new 40 million gas limit on March 20.
While some community members and developers are hopeful about the increase in the gas limit, doubts have been raised. Evan Van Ness, a venture investor and Ethereum advocate, expressed skepticism, particularly considering the impact of the EIP-4844 via the Dencun upgrade on block size.
Earlier this year, Ethereum engineer Marius van der Wijden also voiced concerns about the potential increase in the gas limit. He stated that it could affect the state of the blockchain, including data related to smart contracts and account balances. He highlighted that while size alone might not be the main issue, accessing and modifying this data could become slower.
Since its inception, the Ethereum network has faced persistent scalability issues, which have resulted in high gas fees during periods of heavy load. On March 4, 2024, gas fees reached as high as 174 gwei. It remains to be seen whether this new initiative will successfully deliver on its promise.
