In a recent interactive session on Reddit, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has put forward a proposal to boost the blockchain’s gas limit by 33%, a move that could significantly increase the network’s capacity for processing transactions.
During the Ethereum Foundation research team’s AMA on January 10, Buterin highlighted that the gas limit—a cap on the amount of computational work that can be included in a block—has remained unchanged for an unprecedented span of nearly three years.
Buterin’s proposal to adjust the gas limit from the current 30 million to 40 million is a strategic response to the growing demand for Ethereum’s network resources. This adjustment is the first of its kind since the network’s inception in 2015, when the average gas limit was a mere 3 million.
Why a Gas Limit Increase?
The gas limit sets the boundary for the network’s capacity to execute transactions and smart contracts, balancing throughput with network stability. A higher limit could mean more transactions per block and an overall smoother experience for users.
With average transaction fees hovering around 35 gwei, or $1.89, the cost of using Ethereum has been on the rise since early 2024, particularly for complex smart contract operations. The proposed gas limit increase is a timely consideration as Ethereum continues to navigate through periods of high demand, evidenced by the spike in fees to 150 gwei during last year’s inscriptions trend.
