Ethereum Hits Record 24,000 TPS as Layer 2 “Lighter” Supercharges Network Scalability
Ethereum Shatters Throughput Records
The Ethereum network has achieved a groundbreaking 24,192 transactions per second (TPS) — its highest throughput ever recorded — marking a major leap forward in scalability.
The milestone, first reported by Growthepie, coincides with a surge in transactions on Lighter, a high-speed Layer 2 (L2) decentralized perpetual futures platform launched just last month. Lighter’s explosive growth has now been factored into Ethereum’s total ecosystem TPS, pushing overall network capacity to new heights.
Lighter Surpasses Base Chain with 4,000 TPS
Since launching on October 1, Lighter has quickly emerged as a powerhouse within Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem. The network consistently processes around 4,000 transactions per second, vastly outperforming Coinbase’s Base chain, which averages 100–200 TPS.
By leveraging zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), Lighter delivers near-instant transaction finality while maintaining Ethereum’s security guarantees — an achievement that demonstrates the effectiveness of Ethereum’s modular scaling approach.
Upgrades Powering the Surge: Dencun and Pectra
Ethereum’s recent upgrades — Dencun and Pectra — have laid the technical groundwork for this massive scaling breakthrough.
- Dencun, which introduced proto-danksharding (EIP-4844), slashed the cost of posting data from L2s to Ethereum, making rollup operations far more efficient.
- Pectra further optimized transaction batching and interoperability, paving the way for smoother L2 integrations.
These updates have collectively made it cheaper and faster for rollups like Lighter to settle proofs to the mainnet — effectively unlocking Ethereum’s next phase of scalability.
Community Reaction: “Ethereum Is Scaling”
The record-setting performance quickly made waves across the crypto community.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on X (formerly Twitter), declaring: “Ethereum is scaling.”
Industry analysts such as Anthony Sassano and Ryan Sean Adams of Bankless echoed the excitement.
Adams highlighted that “L2s are now adding a 200x scaling factor to Ethereum,” attributing much of the improvement to the rise of ZK-powered rollups like Lighter.
“The big ZK unlock is just starting to hit Ethereum L2s,” Adams said, adding that Ethereum could soon reach 100,000 TPS — and even 1 million TPS — as the technology matures.
Lighter’s Growing Pains: Outages and Compensation
Despite its impressive speed, Lighter has already faced a few network stability issues, drawing comparisons to Solana’s early days.
On October 28, a major outage disrupted service for thousands of users. Lighter’s founder Doug Colkitt confirmed that the team compensated 3,900 affected wallets with $774,872 in USDC — a move that earned community respect for transparency and accountability.
While outages highlight the challenges of scaling at such high throughput, they also underscore the experimental pace at which Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem is evolving.
Debate: Do L2s Truly Benefit Ethereum?
Not everyone in the community is convinced that Layer 2 growth directly translates into value for the Ethereum mainnet.
Rezso Schmiedt, founding partner at ₿RRR Capital, questioned where the economic value accrual truly lies:
“Yes, more transactions. But where’s the value accrual? L2s capture fees, not ETH. This question remains open,” Schmiedt remarked.
While Ethereum’s overall ecosystem is expanding, some metrics — like decentralized exchange (DEX) volume and fee revenue — have shifted toward Layer 2s, potentially diluting Ethereum’s dominance as a Layer 1 settlement layer.
However, solutions such as fee-sharing mechanisms, MEV (maximal extractable value) redistribution, and deeper protocol-level integrations could help ensure that ETH remains the ultimate beneficiary of this scaling boom.
The Bigger Picture: Ethereum’s Path to Mass Scalability
Ethereum’s 24,000 TPS milestone marks a pivotal moment in the network’s journey toward mass adoption and real-world usability.
With rollups like Lighter demonstrating extreme throughput and ZK technology maturing rapidly, Ethereum is closer than ever to fulfilling its vision as a secure, scalable, and decentralized global settlement layer.
The next test will be whether these L2s can maintain both performance and reliability — and whether value can sustainably flow back to the ETH token itself.
Either way, one thing is clear: Ethereum’s scaling era has arrived.
Sources & References
- See all our insights: Bitcoin World News
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