The Ethereum Foundation disclosed in a recent blog post that over 100 core contributors have agreed to set the Gas Limit bottom target at 200 million following the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade. This significant adjustment stems from multiple protocol-level optimizations, including adjustments to the ePBS structure, optimizations in the Block Access List (BAL), and the repricing of state creation costs under EIP-8037.
Drivers Behind the Technical Upgrade
The Gas Limit determines the maximum gas consumption per block, directly affecting network throughput. Raising it to 200 million allows Ethereum to process more transactions per unit time, potentially reducing congestion and improving scalability. According to the Foundation, adjustments to ePBS (Execution Layer Proposer-Builder Separation) make block production more efficient, while BAL optimizations reduce redundant computation during block validation. Meanwhile, EIP-8037 lowers the economic incentive for spam attacks by re-assessing state creation costs.
Testing Progress and Future Plans
During the recent Soldøgn Interop meeting, the development team successfully conducted end-to-end testing of ePBS on the testnet and fixed the state byte cost issue for EIP-8037. Additionally, preliminary research has begun on features like FOCIL (censorship resistance mechanism) and native account abstraction for the next major upgrade, Hegotá, which could further enrich Ethereum's smart contract ecosystem.
The Ethereum Foundation stressed that the Gas Limit adjustment is an incremental process, with 200 million as the initial bottom target. The exact activation date depends on the final deployment timeline of the Glamsterdam upgrade. The community is currently engaged in active testing and code review, with the upgrade expected to proceed in the second half of 2026.