A newly proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP), if approved, could significantly increase the processing capacity of Ethereum. EIP-7781, which was put forward by Ben Adams from Illyriad Games, proposes to reduce the block times on the Ethereum network from 12 seconds to a mere 8 seconds. Coupled with boosting the latency of based rollups and increasing blob capacity, this can potentially increase Ethereum’s overall throughput by 50%.
EIP-7781 represents an important step forward for the Ethereum network development. A prominent anonymous developer, known as Cygaar, hailed the proposal as the “first huge step” toward enhancing Ethereum’s base layer, amidst a growing focus on layer-2 networks for scaling solutions.
The proposal doesn’t only promise faster throughput: it also proposes to evenly distribute bandwidth usage over time. This would lower peak bandwidth needs without requiring an increase in individual block or blob counts.
Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation expressed approval of EIP-7781 on GitHub, stating that it is in line with the wider objectives set forth by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and various Ethereum scaling organizations. Reducing block times can make decentralized exchanges more efficient, and according to Drake, could save up to $100 million yearly in arbitrage between centralized and decentralized exchanges.
However, the proposal isn’t free from potential drawbacks. Reducing block times could result in execution state growth, in turn increasing the amount of data stored on the blockchain. This process necessitates more efficient hardware and improved bandwidth to maintain the blockchain’s state in less time. This could prove problematic for small-scale solo stakers lacking advanced infrastructure.
Adam Cochran from Cinnehaim Ventures remarked that the proposal seems “reasonable” notwithstanding the potential extra pressure on solo stakers, as long as the gas limit per block remains the same. Even so, the increased requirements for stakers might present challenges to Ethereum’s long-term decentralization goals. This comes shortly after Buterin proposed to lower the amount required to become an Ethereum validator, in an effort to enhance network security and decentralization.