Ethereum's Gas Limit to Increase by 33% to 80 Million

Ethereum's gas limit is set to increase by 33% to 80 million in January, but two technical optimizations must be completed first. The increase will expand the network's capacity to process transactions and smart contract operations.

Ethereum's Aggressive 2025 Scaling Timeline

Ethereum has executed three gas limit increases this year alone, each expanding the network's ability to process transactions and smart contract operations. The limit rose from 30 million to 35 million in February, jumped to 45 million in July, and reached 60 million in November.

This aggressive scaling timeline reflects a coordinated push among developers and researchers to reach 180 million gas by the end of 2026. That target would represent a sixfold increase from the start of 2024, fundamentally reshaping Ethereum's throughput without sacrificing the decentralized validator network that distinguishes it from centralized competitors.

How Gas Limits Control Network Capacity

The gas limit determines how many transactions and smart contract operations can fit in each Ethereum block. Raising this ceiling from 60 million to 80 million directly increases throughput—the number of transactions the network can handle per second—while potentially lowering transaction fees through increased supply of block space.

According to Christine Kim, vice president of research at Galaxy Digital, Nethermind representatives indicated at Monday's meeting that developers should be ready to proceed after the next BPO hard fork on January 7. The first BPO fork on December 9 increased blob capacity by 66%, with the second fork expected to deliver another 66% boost.

Two Infrastructure Upgrades Required First

Ethereum Foundation developer operations engineer Barnabas Busa noted that two client-level optimizations must be completed before the gas limit increase can proceed safely. The first is partial blob responses on the execution layer, which allows nodes to request and receive only portions of blob data rather than full payloads, reducing bandwidth requirements.

The second required optimization is the max blobs flag on the consensus layer, which lets node operators set limits on blob processing to prevent resource exhaustion on hardware-constrained systems. Both optimizations ensure that the network can handle increased capacity without creating bottlenecks that could destabilize block production or validator participation.

The 180 Million Gas Target and What Comes Next

Developers will reconvene January 5 to confirm the precise timing for the gas limit increase following the second BPO hard fork. The meeting will determine whether the two required optimizations have been successfully implemented across major Ethereum clients like Geth, Nethermind, and Besu.

While an 80 million gas limit won't match the raw speed or cost structure of Layer 1 competitors like Solana, it strengthens Ethereum's position as a secure settlement and execution layer. The upgrade preserves decentralization—roughly 900,000 validators currently secure the network, compared to fewer than 2,000 validators on most competing chains—while expanding capacity to meet growing demand from Layer 2 rollups and DeFi protocols that depend on Ethereum as their base layer.