Ethereum developers are considering another increase in network capacity that could significantly improve transaction throughput early next year.
The proposal would raise Ethereum’s block gas limit from 60 million to 80 million following upcoming protocol upgrades.
Discussion of the potential change took place during the latest Ethereum All Core Developers meeting.
Christine Kim, vice president of research at Galaxy Digital, summarised the meeting’s outcomes in a public update.
Representatives from client developer Nethermind said the ecosystem should prepare for a gas limit increase in January.
The change would follow the second blob parameter-only hard fork scheduled for Jan. 7.
Ethereum Foundation developer operations engineer Barnabas Busa outlined technical requirements that must be completed before the increase.
Required client-level optimisations include:
- Partial blob responses on the execution layer.
- A max blobs flag on the consensus layer.
Increasing the gas limit allows more transactions and smart contract executions per block.
Higher capacity can improve throughput while easing fee pressure during periods of heavy network usage.
Developers stressed that performance gains must not undermine network stability or decentralisation.
Even at an 80 million gas limit, Ethereum would not match the speed or cost profile of some rival layer one blockchains.
Supporters argue the upgrade strengthens Ethereum’s position as a secure settlement and execution layer.
Core developers are expected to reconvene on Jan. 5 to confirm implementation timing.
The first blob parameter-only hard fork was activated on Dec. 9.
That upgrade increased blob capacity by approximately 66%.
A second upgrade in January is expected to deliver a further 66% increase.
Blobs store rollup and transaction data offchain to improve scalability without bloating the base layer.
Expanding execution capacity has been a major development focus for Ethereum throughout the year.
Ethereum’s gas limit increases in 2024 include:
- A rise from 30 million to 35 million in February.
- An increase to 45 million in July.
- A further jump to 60 million in November.
Developers said the incremental approach reflects caution as Ethereum continues to scale.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $2,828.21.