When Ethereum Dreams of Becoming a Blockchain Juggernaut: 100X Gas Limit Madness!

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Ethereum — this restless titan, still pounding at the anvil of the digital revolution — carries the mark
of $1,760 printed in the ledger of mortal hopes and fears. Its heart beats with volatility at 2.1%, like a poor worker’s pulse before payday, yet its vast kingdom boasts a market cap of $212.44 billion, and a 24-hour trade torrent of $14.55 billion, rushing more fiercely than the Volga in floodtime.

Now, behold the bold minds — the core developers, modern alchemists of code — whispering about pushing the network’s gas limit not just a little, but a hundredfold beyond the horizon known today. Dankrad Feist, a brave mole digging deep into Ethereum’s foundation, has sketched a mad manifesto on GitHub: EIP-9698. His vision? To coax the gas limit from a modest 36 million to a staggering 3.6 billion in four years. A dream or a folly? Time, like a stern foreman, will judge.

This is not some rash rebellion, but a measured march, in increments tenfold every two years, starting as early as June 2025. No drunken leaps here; the network must adapt, like a proletarian adjusting to factory noise. Should it hold, Ethereum’s very base layer might one day juggle 2,000 transactions each second — a colossal leap from the mere 15 to 30 now — enough to baffle even the most seasoned ledger watchers.

Feist is not blind to the cost of such grandeur. Larger blocks mean the network’s lungs must strain harder, slow propagation, and force ill-equipped nodes into exhaustion. Yet, with a wink and a shrug 🤷‍♂️, he bets on better iron and wiser hands to bear this burden.

This proposal rides on the coattails of prior daring — suggesting a 150 million gas increase at the Fusaka hard fork, whispered by Sophia Gold, Toni Wahrstätter, Carl Beek, and Alex Stokes. Toni, poet of the blockchain realm, tweeted with a knowing smirk:

“Gas limit teased from 30m to 36m. The road to 60m was barricaded by client hardcodes — Pectra smashes that wall. Eyes on 100m gas by Glamsterdam, no less.” 🚀

— Toni Wahrstätter ⟠ (@nero_eth) April 28, 2025

Meanwhile, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s visionary co-founder, calls for privacy improvements on Layer-1 — an echo of secret whispers behind iron doors, promising a protocol reborn in shadowy elegance.

More Plans Brewing in the Crucible

The gas limit surge is but a shard in the mosaic of upgrades. EIP-4444 offers a reprieve for beleaguered nodes, letting them cast off ancient block baggage like weary travelers shedding rags. Storage woes might lessen, inviting more participants into this grand game.

EIP-7886 gifts validators a precious grace — time. No longer mere seconds but a bounty of ten for strenuous zkVMs to conjure proofs. Other nobles in this council, EIP-7928 and EIP-7863, aim to declutter transaction chaos and prune needless labors, promising swifter, slicker chains.

All these hopes and codes march toward the shine of Glamsterdam in 2026, a festival of progress. The Pectra upgrade looms near, set for dawn in May 2025, with no omens of failure from its keepers.

Elsewhere in the political corridors, Grayscale’s emissaries have engaged the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, advocating for Ethereum ETF staking — an effort that pumped Ethereum’s price by a cheeky +0.51%, nudging it up to $1,810.23. Not a bad day’s work for a restless network dreaming beyond its chains. 💥

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2025-04-28 21:15