Vitalik Buterin Drops Bombshell Proposal: Gas Cap Could Reshape Ethereum’s Security Future

Ethereum's co-founder just fired the starting gun on what might become the network's most contentious upgrade yet. Vitalik Buterin's latest proposal—a hard cap on gas fees—aims to tackle scalability and security head-on, but miners won't like the sound of this.

The Gas Gambit: How Capping Fees Could Backfire

Buterin's plan would force validators to process transactions even when network demand (and their potential profits) skyrocket. It's a move that could stabilize fees for DeFi degens but might push miners toward more 'flexible' chains—assuming they can find any with actual users.

Wall Street Analysts: 'We Told You So'

Traditional finance sharks are already circling, with one hedge fund manager quipping: 'Capping fees on a blockchain is like putting a speed limit on a gold rush—good luck enforcing it.' Meanwhile, ETH traders are pricing in another 18 months of existential debates before any code gets merged.

TLDR

• Vitalik Buterin and researcher Toni Wahrstätter propose EIP-7983 to cap individual transaction gas at 16.77 million (2²⁴)
• The cap aims to prevent DoS attacks and improve network stability by stopping single transactions from consuming entire block gas limits
• Transactions exceeding the cap would be rejected during block validation to protect network security
• The proposal enhances compatibility with zero-knowledge virtual machines by encouraging large transactions to split into smaller chunks
• Most existing transactions fall below the proposed cap, minimizing impact on current users and developers

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and researcher Toni Wahrstätter have introduced EIP-7983, a new proposal to cap individual transaction gas usage at 16.77 million. The proposal aims to strengthen network security and improve transaction processing predictability.

Under Ethereum’s current system, a single transaction can consume an entire block’s gas limit. This creates vulnerability to denial-of-service attacks and causes unpredictable network behavior.

. #vitalik proposes EIP-7983 to cap Ethereum's calldata size per block, not gas ⚙️

To curb L2 spam attacks & preserve #Decentralization, without breaking rollups.
– Target: 1MB/block
– Result: L2s will be pushed to use blobs over calldata.

A major shift in how ethereum scales… pic.twitter.com/DMWfLDNNmx

— NewTribe Capital (@NewTribeCap) July 7, 2025

The proposed cap WOULD distribute gas consumption more evenly across transactions. This prevents individual transactions from overwhelming block capacity and destabilizing the network.

Transactions that specify gas limits beyond 16.77 million would be rejected during block validation. This ensures they cannot enter the network or be included in new blocks.

The cap operates independently of the overall block gas limit. Miners and validators can still adjust block limits within existing consensus rules.

Enhanced zkVM Compatibility

The gas cap also improves compatibility with zero-knowledge VIRTUAL machines. Large transactions would need to split into smaller chunks to meet the new requirements.

Buterin and Wahrstätter selected 16.77 million as the optimal balance between complexity and performance. The limit accommodates current advanced DeFi use cases and contract deployments without introducing unnecessary risks.

The proposal states that this value enables most current use cases including contract deployments and advanced DeFi interactions. It ensures consistent performance characteristics across the network.

While EIP-7983 isn’t backward-compatible for transactions exceeding the new limit, the impact remains minimal. Most existing transactions fall well below the proposed cap.

Building on Previous Efforts

EIP-7983 builds on prior improvement proposals like EIP-7825. These efforts focus on improving predictability in transaction execution across the Ethereum network.

The proposal represents part of Buterin’s broader vision for Ethereum development. In May, he called for simplifying the network’s base protocol to boost efficiency and security.

Buterin previously argued that Ethereum’s growing complexity has led to longer development times. It has also increased costs and security risks for developers and users.

He proposed restructuring Ethereum’s architecture across consensus, execution, and shared components. The goal is achieving a leaner design within five years.

The Ethereum co-founder has also introduced concepts like “pluralistic identity” systems. These aim to protect privacy while enabling fair participation in digital life.

The current proposal focuses specifically on gas optimization and network security improvements. It addresses immediate concerns about transaction processing and network stability.