Ethereum is considering the implementation of a protocol-level gas limit of 16.77 million for single transactions under the new proposal EIP-7983. This initiative aims to enhance network performance and security.
Essence of Proposal EIP-7983
The proposal EIP-7983 was put forward by Vitalik Buterin and researcher Toni Wahrstätter. It aims to improve Ethereum's network stability and prevent denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by imposing a limit on the gas consumed by a single transaction. The current structure allows one transaction to potentially use the entire block's gas limit, creating risks for the network.
Benefits of the New Gas Limit
The introduction of a 16.77 million gas limit per transaction is expected to facilitate a more even distribution of gas consumption and prevent a single transaction from monopolizing block space. Transactions exceeding this new limit will be rejected during block validation. This measure will also improve compatibility with zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVM), allowing transactions to be broken into smaller, manageable components.
Competition and Changes in Ethereum
The proposal for a new gas limit comes at a time when Ethereum is facing growing competition from faster smart contract platforms such as Solana. In recent months, Solana has outpaced Ethereum in decentralized application revenue. Vitalik Buterin has also raised concerns about the need to simplify Ethereum's core structure to enhance security and reduce development costs.
The proposal EIP-7983 represents a step towards improving the performance and security of Ethereum. Implementing a gas limit could significantly change the approaches to executing and developing transactions on the network.
