Ethereum’s Gas Limit Surge: 80 Million Target Hits January 2026

Ethereum's next major upgrade isn't about new features—it's about raw throughput. The network is gearing up to more than double its transaction capacity, a move that could reshape its entire economic model.

The Capacity Crunch and the Fix

For years, high gas fees have been Ethereum's Achilles' heel, pushing users to rival chains. The planned increase to an 80 million gas limit per block directly attacks this bottleneck. It's a simple, brute-force arithmetic: more gas per block equals more transactions processed, which should theoretically drive down costs for everyone from DeFi degens to NFT minters.

Navigating the Technical Tightrope

This isn't a free lunch. Validators will shoulder heavier computational loads, potentially centralizing the network toward operators with the deepest pockets and beefiest hardware. The core devs are betting that advancements in client software and hardware efficiency will outpace the added strain—a high-stakes gamble on technological progress.

The Ripple Effect Across Crypto

Cheaper fees could trigger a flood of activity back to Ethereum's mainnet, sucking liquidity from Layer 2s and competing blockchains. It reframes the entire scalability debate, shifting focus from off-chain band-aids to on-chain core improvements. For developers, it means smarter contract design is back in vogue, no longer purely constrained by prohibitive execution costs.

If it works, Ethereum cements its dominance. If it fails under the weight of bloated blocks, it hands rivals a permanent talking point. Either way, the market's favorite narrative—'high fees are solved'—gets its ultimate stress test. Just in time for the next cycle, where promises are made and, occasionally, kept.

In brief

• Ethereum developers plan to raise the gas limit per block from 60 to 80 million after the BPO update on January 7
• Two client-side optimizations remain necessary before the effective increase, including handling partial blob responses and implementing the ‘max blobs’ indicator.

A technical increase with very real effects

Ethereum developers are considering increasing the gas limit per block. Since November this limit was raised to 60 million. It will now be 80 million, and this will take effect from January 2026. This measure will be effective following the next major update of the Blob Parameter Only (BPO), scheduled for January 7.

It WOULD allow the inclusion of a greater number of transactions and smart contract executions in each block. This is in line with the successive adjustments made in 2024, following several increases in the gas limit throughout the year.

However, this evolution remains conditional on the implementation of two technical client-side optimizations. According to Barnabas Busa, engineer at the ethereum Foundation, partial blob responses on the execution layer as well as the “max blobs” indicator on the consensus layer must be finalized before any further effective increase.

Blobs play a key role here. These data structures, introduced recently, allow storing information related to off-chain rollups. As a result, there will be a reduction in costs and better scalability, without excessively burdening Ethereum’s overall state.

Ethereum versus Solana: another strategic bet

Even with 80 million gas per block, Ethereum will not directly compete with blockchains like Solana or Sui in terms of raw speed or ultra-low fees. And that is not really the goal.

Ethereum continues to bet on a different positioning. That of a highly secure, robust, and above all decentralized settlement and execution layer. Each gas limit increase is therefore a balancing act. Ethereum wants to gain performance without sacrificing validator diversity or excessively increasing hardware requirements.

This caution explains the gradual pace of increases observed in 2024. February, July, and then November marked three successive increases, from 30 to 60 million. January could be the fourth step in this controlled movement.

The increase to 80 million would only be an intermediate step. Within the Ethereum community, a goal is circulating more and more openly. Indeed, the so-called crypto aims to reach a gas limit of 180 million by the end of 2026.

While the rising star of web3 is in free fall among companies, its developers are expected to confirm their schedule at the meeting scheduled for January 5. If technical conditions are met, Ethereum could well start the year on a faster yet still controlled note.

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