Ethereum may be poised for a substantial enhancement in its transaction capacity, contingent upon the successful adoption of a new initiative proposed by Dankrad Feist, a researcher with the Ethereum Foundation.
On April 27, Feist unveiled Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 9698, which seeks to increase the network’s gas limit by a factor of 100 over a two-year timeframe. This could potentially enable the Ethereum mainnet to process up to 2,000 transactions per second (TPS).
The proposal details a “deterministic gas limit growth schedule” expected to commence around June 1, coinciding with epoch 369017.
Ethereum Proposal Plans 100x Gas Limit Increase Over Two Years
According to this plan, the gas limit will gradually increase tenfold over approximately 164,250 epochs, spanning about two years, followed by an additional tenfold rise.
Feist believes this method will provide a transparent and sustainable approach to scaling, in line with continuous advancements in hardware and protocol efficiency.
As it stands, the gas limit for Ethereum is currently set at 36 million, an increase from 30 million earlier this year.
Feist’s EIP proposes expanding this limit to 3.6 billion, thus permitting around 6,000 transactions per block, marking a significant escalation in capacity.
Currently, Ethereum achieves a throughput of up to 20 TPS during moments dominated by basic transactions.
How serious is Ethereum about scaling L1? Answer: Exponentially increase gas limit 100x over 4 years by @dankrad How: Clients set default and automatically raise the gas limit every epoch (users can still override). 100x means: – 3.6B gas limit ~2000 TPS – 6000 tx per block https://t.co/3Wjb5EKKck
— fabda.eth (@fabdarice) April 27, 2025
Should this proposal come to fruition, Ethereum could enhance its competitiveness against high-throughput blockchains, such as Solana, which consistently handles between 800 and 1,050 TPS and boasts a theoretical maximum of 65,000 TPS.
However, Feist noted that the rapid escalation of the gas limit might present challenges, particularly for under-optimized nodes, potentially resulting in longer block propagation delays.
Nevertheless, he underscored that the incremental, epoch-based increases would afford developers and node operators ample time to adapt.
EIP-9698 represents a component of Ethereum’s larger initiative to boost base-layer scalability after years of relying on layer-2 solutions.
Critics of the layer-2 strategy have expressed concerns over the fragmentation of the ecosystem, resulting in isolated chains and complicating user experiences owing to limited interoperability.
In tandem, Ethereum developers are gearing up for the Fusaka hard fork, which could execute a fourfold gas limit increase under EIP-9678, anticipated for late 2025.
Before this, the Pectra upgrade is slated to launch in May, marking another crucial advancement in Ethereum’s evolution.
Ethereum Has ‘Huge Opportunity’ to Fix AI’s Centralization Problem
According to Eric Connor, a former core developer of Ethereum, the blockchain could address some of the pressing challenges currently facing artificial intelligence.
Earlier this month, Connor suggested that Ethereum’s “biggest mainstream moment” could arise from its integration with AI, as the sector grapples with centralization, opaque algorithms, and mounting privacy issues.
“AI is plagued by black-box models, centralized data silos, and privacy pitfalls,” Connor remarked, asserting that Ethereum is in a unique position to tackle these concerns.
Ethereum has already shown the world trustless, programmable finance through DeFi and stablecoins. But its biggest mainstream moment is waiting in the wings with AI. AI is on a fast-track to reshape almost every aspect of our lives. But it’s plagued by black-box models,…
— Eric Conner (@econoar) April 15, 2025
Recently, crypto venture capitalist Nic Carter from Castle Island Ventures highlighted two significant factors undermining Ether’s value: the emergence of layer-2 (L2) scaling networks and unrestricted token issuance.
Carter argued that “greedy Eth L2s” are extracting value from Ethereum’s base layer without contributing back.
He also criticized the Ethereum community for tolerating excessive token generation, claiming that “ETH was buried in an avalanche of its own tokens. Died by its own hand.”
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