A
new
upgrade
proposal
for
Ethereum
could
improve
network
throughput
by
50%,
enhancing
its
ability
to
compete
with
speed-focused
blockchains
like
Solana.
Initially
proposed
on
Oct.
5
by
Ben
Adams,
co-founder
of
Illyriad
Games,
the
Ethereum
improvement
proposal
(EIP)
would
reduce
slot
times
from
12
seconds
to
eight
seconds,
allowing
the
network
to
process
more
transactions
over
time.
The
upgrade,
officially
designated
EIP-7781,
would
also
ramp
up
the
blockchain’s
capacity
to
handle
blobs,
which
are
dedicated
data-storage
chambers
used
by
affiliated
layer-2
networks
to
stash
transaction
records.
The
change
would
effectively
increase
the
number
of
blobs
per
block
to
nine
from
six,
providing
more
space
for
layer-2
chains
like
Arbitrum
and
Optimism
to
post
data
to
Ethereum.
In
Ethereum’s
proof-of-stake
consensus
mechanism,
slots
refer
to
specific
time
intervals
during
which
a
block
can
be
proposed.
A
validator
is
selected
for
each
slot
to
propose
a
block,
and
if
successful,
the
block
is
added
to
the
blockchain.
The
upgrade
proposal
will
need
to
work
its
way
through
the
Ethereum
open-source
development
system,
but
it’s
already
earned
some
key
supporters.
Vitalik
Buterin’s
proposal
Ethereum
Foundation
researcher
Justin
Drake
noted
on
Github
that
reducing
block
times
to
eight
seconds
would
make
decentralized
exchange
(DEX)
platforms
like
Uniswap
1.22
times
more
efficient.
The
change
could
help
close
pricing
gaps
between
on-chain
and
off-chain
trading
venues,
saving
users
up
to
$100
million
per
year,
according
to
Drake.
The
Ethereum
blockchain
is
praised
for
having
strong
security
and
a
high
degree
of
decentralization
relative
to
most
other
blockchains,
but
its
benefits
have
historically
come
at
the
cost
of
relatively
high
fees
and
slow
speeds
–
at
least
in
comparison
to
newer
blockchains
like
Solana.
Ethereum
co-founder
Vitalik
Buterin
proposed
in
January
to
increase
the
blockchain’s
“gas
limit”
–
the
total
size
of
transactions
that
can
be
squeezed
into
each
block
–
as
a
way
of
boosting
the
overall
network
throughput.
EIP-7781
would
be
tantamount
to
an
“effective
increase
to
a
45M
gas
limit
and
9
blob
limit,”
which
“roughly
aligns
with
the
proposed
40M
gas
limit
by
pumpthegas.org
and
the
8
blob
limit
by
Vitalik
and
others,”
according
to
Drake.
Over
the
past
few
years,
upgrades
to
the
Ethereum
blockchain
have
primarily
focused
on
paving
the
way
for
the
development
of
third-party
layer-2
“rollup”
networks
like
Arbitrum
and
Optimism.
These
independent
blockchain
networks
officially
settle
their
transactions
on
Ethereum’s
ledger,
but
they
offer
users
higher
speeds
and
lower
fees
and
have
rapidly
become
the
primary
venue
through
which
users
interact
with
the
Ethereum
ecosystem.
Data
blobs
were
added
to
Ethereum
in
March
to
allow
the
blockchain
to
hold
arbitrary
bits
of
data
in
a
separate,
dedicated
space
that’s
cheaper
than
regular
block
space
on
the
network.
Compared
to
regular
transactions,
blobs
are
better
optimized
for
layer-2
networks,
which
bundle
together
big
groups
of
transactions
and
post
them
to
Ethereum
all
at
once.
EIP-7781
could
help
make
it
faster
(and
cheaper)
for
layer-2
networks
to
post
data
to
the
chain
by
increasing
the
number
of
blobs,
but
it
is
also
the
first
upgrade
in
some
time
to
focus
directly
on
improving
speeds
on
the
base
Ethereum
blockchain.
Reducing
slot
times
to
eight
seconds
from
12
would
directly
translate
to
faster
transactions
for
end-users,
but
it
risks
adding
strain
for
validators,
who
might
need
additional
hardware
resources.
The
news
was
reported
earlier
in
CoinTelegraph.
