Ethereum is poised to enhance its transaction throughput in January by increasing its gas limit from 60 million to 80 million. This adjustment follows insights shared by Christine Kim, the vice president of the research team at Galaxy Digital, during the recent All Core Developers meeting.
Representatives from Nethermind indicated that developers are prepared to implement this gas limit increase after the upcoming blob parameter-only (BPO) hard fork scheduled for January 7. However, Ethereum Foundation developer operations engineer Barnabas Busa highlighted the necessity of two client-level optimizations prior to this increase: partial blob responses on the execution layer and the maximum blobs flag on the consensus layer.
Raising the gas limit directly translates to a higher number of transactions and smart contract operations accommodated within each Ethereum block. This development aims to bolster overall network throughput while potentially reducing transaction fees. Although the planned increase to 80 million will not rival the speed or cost-effectiveness of layer 1 solutions like Solana or Sui, it reinforces Ethereum”s position as a secure settlement and execution layer, maintaining its decentralization—an essential advantage over its competitors.
Developers involved in the Ethereum ecosystem will reconvene on January 5 to finalize the timing of the gas limit increase following the second BPO hard fork. The first BPO hard fork, which took place on December 9, resulted in a 66% increase in blob capacity. The anticipated second hard fork on January 7 is expected to provide another 66% increase.
Blobs are substantial data chunks that facilitate the storage of transaction and rollup data off-chain, thus lowering gas costs and enhancing scalability without overwhelming the network. The effort to increase Ethereum”s gas limit has been a significant focus throughout the year, with three raises already implemented. The initial increase occurred in February, moving from 30 million to 35 million; the second in July, raising it to 45 million; and the latest in November, reaching 60 million.
Members of the Ethereum development and research community are united in their goal to elevate the network”s gas limit to 180 million by the end of 2026, reflecting a committed trajectory toward scalability and efficiency.
