Etherum exceeded the capacity threshold when the gas limit on its main network block reached 60 million, the highest level the network has seen in four years.
Data Tracker Gas Limit Photos showed that in November, over 513,000 validators signaled the 60 million gas limit, pushing the Etherum network above the threshold needed for the protocol to begin moving the gas limit upwards.
A higher gas limit allows Ethereum to fit more work into each block, including swaps, token transfers, and shrewd contract calls. In practice, this can reduce congestion during busy periods and support the network process more activity at the core layer.
As over 513,000 validators moved from the cap of 45 million to the higher configuration of 60 million, Ethereum’s effective block size began to automatically boost, thereby increasing throughput at the core layer of the network.
An attempt to “pump gas” on Ethereum
In March 2024, Ethereum developers began trying to boost the gas limit on the network, claiming that the change could support Ethereum scale.
Ethereum creators Eric Connor and Mariano Conti have created an initiative called Pump The Gas to raise the Ethereum gas limit, which they believe will lower transaction fees on the Layer 1 blockchain.
The duo called on individual stakeholders, customer teams, pools and community members to push for the plan.
In December 2024, the movement gained momentum as validators began signaling increases in gas limits. The community has come together to boost the maximum amount of gas allowed for transactions in a single Ethereum block.
The gas limit boost comes ahead of an upcoming major network upgrade called Fusaka, which aims to improve Ethereum’s scalability. On October 29, the update hit the Hoodi testnet, the final step before its debut on the mainnet on December 3.
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Ethereum Community Says 60 Million Gas Limit Is ‘Just the Beginning’
Ethereum leaders say the jump to the 60 million gas limit is just the beginning of a broader expansion of the network’s execution capacity.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahstätter credited the ecosystem’s teams, researchers and collaborators for coordinating the efforts.
“Just a year after the community began calling for higher gas limits, Ethereum is now operating with a block gas cap of 60 million. That’s a twofold increase in one year – and that’s just the beginning,” Wahrstätter he wrote on X
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared this opinion. He he said that the network can expect further development in the coming year. However, this would be done in a more targeted and less uniform way.
It has created a future in which the network increases overall throughput while increasing the costs of some ineffective operations.
He also pointed to a more sophisticated form of scaling that involves larger blocks but smarter pricing to ensure the network can expand safely without creating modern problems.
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