Ethereum validators have strong approval for a rise in the network’s gas limit, with a vote in its direction exceeding 50%. That change will raise the upper level of consumable gas per block, and with it, will allow for added room for transactions.
Crypto commentator Evan Van Ness discussed this update in a Feb. 4 X post. He emphasized that this will represent Ethereum’s first ever gas limit increase since its transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) in September 2022.
Van Ness stressed that with decentralization of PoS, it took a lot of time to coordinate such a transition in contrast to when it could have taken place under traditional proof-of-work (PoW). Despite almost a full half of Ethereum blocks having started supporting the boost, it is a significant accomplishment for the network.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin backs Pectra fork
Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, is calling for the soon-to-be-forked Pectra in March. With it, the blob target will double to six, effectively doubling layer-2 networks’ throughput. Buterin argued that such an update must pass through a vote of stakers, much in the same manner an increase in the gas limit must pass through a vote of stakers.
He expressed gratitude for continued work towards development of several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and other technology with a view to keeping increased gas limits decentralized.
In addition, Ethereum developer Justin Drake stated that he will make his validator enable a 36 million allowance for gas. He ssaid that it to be a responsible move towards future expansion of the network.
He pointed out that current validators have control over the gas limit. Ethereum’s 30-million gas limit, in its current form, had been in use for 3.5 years. According to him, an increase in the 20% level in the gas limit will make the network more efficient. Additonally, it will “grease the wheels” for future upgrades.
The push for higher gas allowances is one facet of Ethereum’s general work in scaling. That work entails breakthroughs including SNARKed execution clients (zkELs). It can potentially scale orders of magnitude in terms of consuming gas.
While technical barriers, such as state root delays and zkEVM proving latency, remain in its way, the network keeps moving towards such ambitious targets. Experts see future releases as imperative for Ethereum’s future position as a decentralized and scalable platform.
