30s Summary

Support for increased Ethereum network gas limits from validators has seen a significant increase, with 10% advocating a limit of over 30 million compared to just over 1% in November. A higher gas limit could mean lower transaction fees, prompting Ethereum developer Eric Connor and Mariano Conti, ex-chief of smart contracts at MakerDAO, to set up site “Pump The Gas” to rally support for a limit of 40 million which they believe could lower Layer-1 transaction fees by 15-33%. However, caution is advised as raising the limit could threaten stability, security and decentralisation.

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Recently, there’s been a significant increase in Ethereum validators who are showing support for upping the network’s gas limit. Just so you know, this gas limit is nothing but the maximum amount of gas that can be spent for your transactions in a single Ethereum block.

As of December 19th, we’ve seen that 10% of the network’s validators are pointing towards a gas limit that’s more than 30 million, which is pretty good for us seeing as before December, we only had slightly over 1% of validators rooting for the gas limit hike.

This surge isn’t random, though! It’s thanks to some members of the Ethereum community advocating for hiking the gas limit up to 36 million. Why? Because a higher gas limit means lower transaction fees.

To give you an idea, Ethereum developer Eric Connor and Mariano Conti, former chief of smart contracts at MakerDAO, recently launched a site called “Pump The Gas” to rally support for raising the Ethereum gas limit to a whopping 40 million. They believe if that happens, we could see fees for layer-1 transactions dip by 15% to 33%. Sounds fantastic, right?

The ball really got rolling in December when Ethereum researchers joined the team. Justin Drake, one of the researchers, set his validator for a 36 million gas limit. He noted that a 20% increase is a safe way to keep things smooth.

Emmanuel Awosika, creative director at 2077 Collective, is highlighting what this could mean for developers. The current gas limit can frustrate the launch of high-demand applications, so he reckons that upping those limits would be great news for ambitious devs. Some apps, Awosika pointed out, can’t even be deployed with the current gas limit due to potential price spikes if they go viral – not exactly great for users.

With everyone gunning for more substantial gas limits, there are a few people who sound a note of caution. Toni Wahrstätter from the Ethereum Foundation warned about the risk to stability and security. “Pump The Gas” too recognised these risks, stating that Ethereum’s primary goal is still to stay decentralized. If we raise the gas limit too high and too fast, it could lead to chain difficulties for solo node operators, and even “unexpected externalities” beyond just storage and bandwidth. So, let’s see how this pans out!