Ethereum block explorer Etherscan has confirmed that the network's gas limit has reached a new record of 35,3 million units, at block height 21771507.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has highlighted the recent increase in the gas limit as a continued improvement in the scalability and efficiency of the blockchain.
The gas increase, achieved through consensus among ETH validators, has been widely celebrated by the crypto community for its importance to the development and growth of Ethereum.
A record 35,3 million
According to a post by Etherscan on X, the Ethereum blockchain gas limit reached a maximum of 35,3 million units, after the approval given by the validators to the proposal, which had the financial from ConsenSys.
The gas limit defines the processing capacity of the Ethereum network in a given block. Each transaction and smart contract operation consumes a certain amount of gas. Previously, this limit was set at 30 million units, which caused congestion during times of high demand and significantly increased transaction fees, commonly known as “gas fees.”
Therefore, this new record of 35,3 million units, projected to reach 36 million, means a considerable increase in the processing capacity of the blockchain network. In practical terms, Reduced congestion, faster transaction times and potentially lower gas costs are expected, especially during periods of high network activity.
An important point is that the implementation of this increase was carried out without the need for a hard fork or hard fork, and this was made possible by an automatic adjustment mechanism. The way this adjustment was implemented minimizes risks to the stability and security of the network, in contrast to past updates that required a more complex and risky process.
The implications for dApps
As we know, Ethereum is the leading platform for developing smart contracts and decentralized applications, so the increase in the gas limit not only benefits the users of the chain but also has a profound impact on the flourishing ecosystem of decentralized applications built on the network.
Many dApps, especially in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, rely on a large number of transactions per second. With more processing power available, these applications can see a significant improvement in efficiency, response times, and operating costs. Increasing the gas limit provides optimized scalability to these applications, making them more attractive to a larger number of users. All of this would encourage innovation in the DeFi sector and other areas of development within the Ethereum environment.
A more scalable future for DeFi
Achieving this new gas limit represents an important step on the path to full scalability of the Ethereum network.
While blockchain developers still have a long way to go in this regard, Etherscan’s official confirmation, coupled with Vitalik Buterin’s statement emphasizing the importance of the increase for scalability and efficiency on the mainnet, indicates that improving not only efficiency but also transaction processing capacity is at the heart of several planned upgrades in the near future.
Since switching to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) protocol via The Merge, Ethereum’s evolution has been marked by a continued focus on improving its infrastructure and scalability.
With the increase in the gas limit and future plans for continued improvements, Ethereum reaffirms its commitment to remain a leading platform in the blockchain world, capable of supporting the exponential growth of its ecosystem.
