Ethereum Validators Push for 45M Gas Limit Hike—Network Scalability at Stake

Ethereum's validators are rallying behind a controversial proposal to crank the network's gas limit up to 45 million—a move that could turbocharge throughput or turn the chain into a buffet for spam transactions.

The Scalability Gamble

Proponents argue this 25% capacity boost finally brings Ethereum closer to Visa-level TPS. Critics whisper about déjà vu—remember when Vitalik warned against 'excessive' limit hikes back in 2023? Meanwhile, L2 teams are quietly recalculating their revenue projections.

Wall Street's Ironic Dilemma

Traditional finance giants—who spent years mocking crypto's 'clunky' tech—now face their own scaling crisis. JPMorgan's blockchain can't even handle 1% of Ethereum's current load. Maybe they'll finally understand why we put up with gas fees.

Gas limit

Gas refers to the unit of computational effort required to perform operations on Ethereum, such as executing contracts or processing transactions. Raising the gas limit means each block can accommodate more activity, potentially reducing transaction fees and improving scalability.

However, increasing gas limits has long sparked debate within the Ethereum community. While higher limits offer performance benefits, some developers caution against the risk of network strain from resource-intensive transactions.

To address these risks, Buterin and Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter recently proposed a cap on gas usage per transaction.

Their idea of limiting individual transactions to 16.77 million gas units is designed to preserve execution stability while still enabling complex DeFi functions.

According to them, this safeguard strikes a balance between scaling ambitions and protecting the network from congestion caused by resource-heavy operations.