- Ethereum developers plan to quadruple the gas limit to 150 million in the upcoming Fusaka hard fork.
- The upgrade, expected in late 2025, aims to boost scalability and requires extensive client testing and updates.
Ethereum core developers are taking bold steps toward scaling the network’s capacity, proposing a significant fourfold increase in the gas limit for the upcoming Fusaka hard fork. This ambitious change could reshape the network’s performance and user experience in the coming years.
Testing Higher Limits with Fusaka
Sophia Gold from the Ethereum Foundation proposed raising the gas limit to 150 million in EIP-9678. This move would significantly increase the current average gas limit of just under 36 million, according to Ycharts data.
Tim Beiko, a prominent Ethereum core developer, highlighted in an April 24 meeting summary that the gas limit increase is set to become a “key feature” of Fusaka. Developers believe this move aligns with ongoing efforts to scale layer 1 execution without the need for new features. However, it does come with technical challenges that require thorough testing and bug fixes by client developers before implementation.
A Careful but Bold Strategy
While validators ultimately set the gas limit, introducing an EIP ensures that client software defaults are properly aligned ahead of Fusaka’s launch, projected for late 2025. “Having an EIP to coordinate client defaults would help keep this a priority and ensure all clients update their defaults by the time Fusaka goes live,” Beiko explained.
Developers acknowledge that pushing gas limits higher could expose bugs in client software, necessitating significant testing and updates. Including the gas limit adjustment in the Fusaka upgrade formalizes the commitment and directs developer resources to fix emerging issues.
The Fusaka hard fork will follow Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade, which is scheduled to hit the mainnet this May. While Pectra focuses on a separate set of improvements, Fusaka’s gas limit increase signals a clear direction toward maximizing Ethereum’s base layer efficiency.
Given the explosive growth in Ethereum-based applications and transactions, scaling the network is becoming increasingly critical. A successful increase in the gas limit could ease congestion, lower fees, and provide smoother experiences for users and developers alike.
As Ethereum evolves, the Fusaka upgrade could mark a major step in sustaining the network’s leadership in blockchain innovation.
