Ethereum Plans Gas Limit Increase Amid Pectra Upgrade Development
This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter.
Ethereum All-Core Devs Update
The Ethereum All-Core Devs (ACD) held their final call of 2024, discussing plans for an increase in the gas limit and progress on the Pectra upgrade. The community continues to address execution-layer changes, consensus-layer coordination, and EIP implementation, demonstrating Ethereum's commitment to iterative development.
Gas Limit Increase
Ethereum developers are preparing for a gas limit increase to 36 million gas, reflecting a 20% rise seen three years ago. Key technical constraints exist, particularly the consensus layer’s “GOSSIP_MAX_SIZE,” which limits validator block transmission to approximately 10.48 MB.
The Mekong testnet, utilized for Pectra fork testing, has already successfully increased its gas limit to 36 million. However, developers caution against exceeding a mainnet gas limit of 40 million without addressing existing gossip-layer constraints. Validator clients encounter difficulties in adjusting gas limits dynamically, highlighting the need for further development.
The gas limit increase can be initiated by validators without requiring a hard fork; currently, 16.8% of validators support this change, with initiatives like PumpTheGas.org aiming to increase participation.
Pectra Upgrade
The Pectra upgrade is central to Ethereum’s 2025 roadmap, scheduled for Q1 release with a target for Devnet-5 launch by year-end. Discussions included replacing EIP-7742 with EIP-7840 to enhance flexibility in managing "blob counts," crucial for scaling Ethereum and supporting layer-2 rollups.
This adjustment allows developers to set maximum and target blob counts independently, optimizing scalability and stability. Additionally, EIP-2537 proposes gas repricing for BLS precompile operations, enhancing efficiency by adjusting costs for resource-intensive tasks and eliminating inefficiencies.
Future Developments
An EVM resource pricing working group will launch in January to harmonize gas cost calculations across operations. EIP-4444, focusing on pre-Merge history expiry, is set for rollout on May 1, 2025, pending additional testing.
Developers also emphasized the need for clearer validator node requirements and proposed redefining “Meta” EIPs to simplify hardfork management.
Overall, Ethereum's collaborative approach reflects its ambition to enhance technical capabilities while maintaining stability.