Ethereum Developers Propose 4x Gas Limit Increase for Fusaka Hard Fork

Ethereum core developers are laying the groundwork for one of the most ambitious upgrades to the network’s scalability to date — a fourfold increase in the Ethereum layer-1 gas limit — as part of the proposed Fusaka hard fork, scheduled to follow the upcoming Pectra upgrade.

From Pectra to Fusaka: Setting the Stage

The Pectra hard fork is currently slated for deployment on Ethereum mainnet in May 2025, with Fusaka tentatively targeted for late 2025. While Pectra focuses on modest improvements, Fusaka is shaping up to be a significant step forward in Ethereum’s long-term scalability vision.

Central to the Fusaka proposal is Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 9678, introduced on April 23 by Sophia Gold, a developer with the Ethereum Foundation’s protocol support team. The proposal outlines a plan to test and potentially implement an increase in the gas limit to 150 million — up from the current ~36 million — enabling far more transactions per block on the Ethereum mainnet.

Why Increase the Gas Limit?

The gas limit determines how much computational work can be included in each block. A higher gas limit means more transactions and complex smart contracts can be processed per block, enhancing throughput and reducing congestion.

According to developers, this move is part of a broader strategy to scale Ethereum’s layer 1 execution layer, providing increased capacity for on-chain activity while second-layer rollups and other scaling solutions continue to mature.

However, increasing the gas limit is not without risks. Core developers noted that raising it substantially may expose previously undetected bugs in client implementations and lead to network performance issues if not properly tested.

“As we continue this work, we expect to identify changes that need to be made in-protocol to support a higher gas limit,” said Tim Beiko, an Ethereum core developer. “This implies adding more EIPs to Fusaka, even though the fork scope is final.”

To ensure all client implementations are in sync, developers have proposed formally including the gas limit increase as an EIP in the Fusaka hard fork. This will guide client defaults and validator configurations across the network, creating a unified path forward.

Community Coordination & Validator Support

While Ethereum validators ultimately control the gas limit, developer coordination via EIPs plays a crucial role in setting expectations and providing default configurations across clients like Geth, Nethermind, and Besu.

“We agreed that having an EIP to coordinate client defaults would help keep this a priority and ensure all clients update their defaults by the time Fusaka goes live,” Beiko noted in his April 24 meeting summary.

Ethereum’s average gas limit has remained around 30 million since an increase in August 2021, but as of February 4, 2025, validators approved a modest raise to 36 million. EIP-9678 aims to quadruple this figure, signaling the largest gas limit increase in Ethereum’s history.

A New Era for Ethereum Scalability?

The Fusaka proposal reflects Ethereum’s broader commitment to layer 1 scalability amid rising demand for block space, dApp activity, and DeFi transactions. Developers are optimistic that higher gas limits — when paired with robust testing and client-side improvements — can unlock significant performance gains without compromising network stability.

“There’s huge interest in scaling L1 execution, and increasing the gas limit is one of the most direct ways to do it,” Sophia Gold emphasized in her proposal. “But it requires careful planning and execution-layer developer involvement.”

If successful, the increase could enhance Ethereum’s competitiveness and provide much-needed relief to users who frequently face high gas fees during peak network activity.