The debate around increasing Ethereum’s gas throughput has gained momentum in recent months. With growing demand for scalability, proposals to raise the gas limit or reduce block times are being seriously considered by core developers and researchers. One of the central arguments supporting a higher gas limit is the steady decline in hardware requirements for running validator nodes over the past four years—making network participation more accessible than ever.
Two main approaches have emerged to increase Ethereum’s transaction capacity:
- Raising the gas limit per block
- Reducing block intervals
This article will explore what happens to Ethereum’s bandwidth, computation, and storage demands if the gas limit were to double—from the current maximum of 30 million gas per block to 60 million. We'll examine both average-case and worst-case scenarios, drawing on historical trends and technical data.
Historical Context: How Ethereum’s Gas Limit Evolved
When Ethereum launched in 2015, the initial block gas limit was set at just 5,000 gas—a number quickly adjusted as usage grew. Over time, the network evolved through several upgrades:
- Gradual increases in response to demand
- Introduction of EIP-1559, which established a target gas limit (currently 15 million) and a maximum (or "hard cap") of 30 million gas per block
Despite periodic discussions, the gas limit has remained unchanged for nearly four years. Yet today’s improved infrastructure and declining hardware costs suggest that revisiting this cap may now be feasible.
👉 Discover how blockchain networks are scaling to meet growing demand.
Storage: Is It the Real Bottleneck?
One of the most frequently cited concerns about raising the gas limit is its impact on state storage growth—the total size of Ethereum’s global state, including account balances, smart contract code, and storage variables.
Understanding State Growth
Ethereum experiences two types of data growth:
- Transaction volume growth – more transactions = more data processed
- State bloat – long-term accumulation of account and contract data
Currently, Ethereum’s state grows at approximately 2.5 GB per month, or 30 GB annually. This growth stems largely from increased activity in DeFi, NFTs, and complex smart contract interactions during peak usage periods.
At first glance, doubling the gas limit could accelerate this trend—potentially pushing annual growth to 60 GB. However, hardware advancements are outpacing this increase significantly.
Hardware Costs Are Falling Exponentially
Over the past four years, the cost of SSD storage has followed a clear downward trend: prices halve roughly every two years. This exponential decline far outpaces Ethereum’s linear state growth.
Even if validators require over 2 TB of storage in the near future—necessitating 4 TB drives due to standard hardware configurations—the extra space would be underutilized regardless of gas limits. In other words, raising the cap doesn’t impose new storage burdens; the hardware is already being upgraded for other reasons.
Moreover, query performance remains stable despite larger datasets. Most database operations run in logarithmic time, so even with tens of gigabytes added each year, access speeds remain efficient across modern SSDs.
Thus, while storage growth is real, it's not a limiting factor for increasing the gas limit—especially given ongoing improvements in consumer and enterprise hardware.
Bandwidth Impact: What Happens to Network Load?
Bandwidth refers to the amount of data nodes must transmit and receive when processing blocks. Let’s break down the implications of a doubled gas limit.
Average Case: Minimal Change
Currently:
- Average bandwidth usage: ~2 MB/s
- Largest recorded block: 270 KB
- Post-Deneb average block size: ~75 KB
Doubling the gas limit would increase block size by roughly 0.5 to 2 blobs, translating to a 2–5% increase in node bandwidth (input/output). Compared to normal fluctuations, this change is negligible.
👉 See how next-gen blockchain upgrades are reshaping network efficiency.
Worst Case: A Manageable Spike
In worst-case scenarios:
- Maximum theoretical block size: 1.7 MB
- With doubled gas: up to 3.4 MB
- Bandwidth demand increase: ~50% above average
While significant, such an attack would be extremely costly:
- Filling multiple blocks at 30M+ gas requires massive capital
- Attackers must compete with legitimate high-fee transactions
- High-cost calldata usage acts as a natural deterrent
Additionally, proposed improvements like EIP-7783 (gradual gas limit increases) and potential calldata re-pricing can further mitigate risks. These mechanisms ensure sudden spikes are both expensive and short-lived.
Computation: Are We Hitting Processing Limits?
Computation involves how long it takes a node to validate and execute a block.
Average Execution Time
On even modest hardware, average block processing time is under 1 second. This indicates that computation has not been—and is unlikely to become—a bottleneck under normal conditions.
Worst-Case Scenarios
Some operations remain computationally intensive:
- The
MODEXPopcode (modular exponentiation) scales poorly - Certain cryptographic functions can consume disproportionate resources
However, these risks are manageable:
- Malicious opcodes can be re-priced via EIPs
- Clients can implement optimizations or circuit breakers
- A higher gas limit does not inherently enable new attack vectors—it only amplifies existing ones, which are already monitored
With proper protocol safeguards, computational load remains within safe bounds—even with a doubled gas cap.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Why hasn't Ethereum increased its gas limit in four years?
A: Conservative governance and concerns about decentralization have led developers to prioritize stability over rapid scaling. However, improved hardware and client optimizations now make increases safer.
Q: Would doubling the gas limit centralize the network?
A: Not necessarily. Since hardware costs are falling faster than state growth, even modest machines can keep up. As long as entry barriers don’t rise disproportionately, decentralization remains intact.
Q: What is EIP-7783, and how does it help?
A: EIP-7783 proposes a gradual, algorithmic increase in the gas limit rather than sudden jumps. This allows nodes to adapt smoothly and reduces systemic risk.
Q: Can higher gas limits lead to spam attacks?
A: While possible, spamming high-gas blocks is prohibitively expensive due to base fee mechanics introduced by EIP-1559. Economic disincentives naturally limit abuse.
Q: Is storage really not a problem anymore?
A: For most validators, yes. Modern SSDs offer ample capacity and speed. Even projected 60 GB/year growth is manageable given current hardware trends.
Q: What’s the difference between raising gas limits vs. reducing block time?
A: Raising the gas limit increases how much data fits in a block; reducing block time increases how often blocks are produced. The latter poses greater coordination challenges and may affect finality—making gas limit adjustments a safer near-term option.
Final Thoughts: A Path Forward
Raising Ethereum’s gas limit—especially under a controlled mechanism like EIP-7783—is technically feasible and increasingly justified by hardware trends. While bandwidth represents the most meaningful concern in worst-case scenarios, even those risks are mitigated by economic and protocol-level safeguards.
Storage growth, once a major bottleneck, is no longer a critical constraint thanks to rapidly declining SSD costs and efficient data handling.
For now, a 33% increase or even a full doubling of the gas limit appears viable without compromising decentralization or security.
Meanwhile, reducing block intervals remains a longer-term goal—one that should wait until distributed validator technology (DVT) and single-slot finality (SSF) mature.
In summary: Ethereum is ready for more throughput, and adjusting the gas limit is a logical next step toward greater scalability and lower user fees.
👉 Stay ahead of Ethereum’s evolution with real-time insights and analysis.