TLDR
- Ethereum’s gas limit rose to 37.3 million units on Sunday, marking the first major increase since February’s jump from 30 million to 36 million
- Nearly 50% of validators now support raising the gas limit to 45 million through a grassroots “pump the gas” campaign
- Higher gas limits increase transaction throughput from around 15 TPS to just below 18 TPS on Ethereum’s main network
- Network activity has grown from 1.1 million daily transactions in April to 1.4 million currently
- ETH price gained 54% over the past month, trading around $3,755 as validators signal support for network improvements
Ethereum’s gas limit reached over 37.3 million units on Sunday, marking the first major increase since February 2025. The rise came as validators continue signaling support for further expansion to 45 million units through a community-driven campaign.
The current gas limit represents an increase of nearly 3% from levels recorded late last week. Several blocks were proposed with higher gas limits as validators used their automated adjustment capabilities to signal support for changes.
The February increase raised Ethereum’s gas limit from 30 million to 36 million units. The current push toward 45 million would represent a 50% increase over the pre-2025 ceiling.
Gas limits determine the maximum amount of computational work that can be included in each block. Higher limits allow more transactions to be processed on Ethereum’s base layer, improving network throughput.
Ethereum’s transaction throughput climbed to just below 18 transactions per second over the weekend, according to Chainspect data. This marks an improvement from around 15 TPS recorded during the last gas limit increase.
Validator Support Reaches Nearly 50%
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin observed Sunday that “almost exactly 50% of stake are voting to increase the L1 gas limit to 45 million.” Current data from GasLimits.pics shows 47.2% of staked validators favor higher gas limits.
The “pump the gas” campaign launched in March 2024 to initially raise the gas limit from 30 million to 40 million. Developers claimed this would reduce transaction fees on the layer-1 network.
Validators can automatically adjust gas limits by approximately 0.1% per block when signaling support for changes. This mechanism allows for gradual increases based on community consensus.
Recent improvements to Geth, Ethereum’s most popular node client, have made these scaling increases safer. The Geth v1.16.0 update reduced archive node storage requirements from more than 20 terabytes to less than 2 terabytes.
These optimizations address concerns about centralization that can occur with larger block sizes. Smaller node operators face less pressure from hardware requirements needed to run validator nodes reliably.
Network Activity and Price Performance
Ethereum network activity has increased over recent months. Daily transactions grew from around 1.1 million in April to current levels around 1.4 million, according to Etherscan data.
The increased activity has correlated with ETH price gains. The asset gained 54% over the past month and briefly topped $3,800 on Sunday, reaching a seven-month high.
ETH currently trades at $3,755, up 2% over the last day and 25% over the previous week. Corporate treasuries and exchange-traded funds continue adding ETH to their holdings.
Higher gas limits provide several benefits including reduced congestion during peak usage periods. They also enhance support for layer-2 integrations and decentralized applications built on Ethereum.
The gas limit increases also carry trade-offs. Larger blocks could accelerate blockchain growth and increase risks of synchronization delays or chain splits if not managed carefully.
