A significant development in the Ethereum ecosystem is coming, with a new Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) introduced on October 5, 2024.
This proposal, known as EIP-7781, seeks to reduce block times on the Ethereum network by 33%, promising to enhance overall speed by 50%. The proposal was initiated by Ben Adams, co-founder of Illyriad Games.
How will the Speed Increase?
The primary objective of EIP-7781 is to cut the current block time from 12 seconds to just 8 seconds. The suggestion also seeks to raise the maximum amount of data blobs that can be handled in a block in addition to this decrease.
EIP-7781 suggests increasing the maximum number of data blobs per block on the network from the current six to nine. This upgrade is projected to boost the efficiency of decentralized exchanges (DEXes), making them approximately 1.22 times more effective.
An anonymous developer named Cygaar offered information about X, saying, “A new EIP aims to boost Ethereum’s throughput by 50%.” If accepted, this development would be a significant step towards improving the performance of Ethereum Layer 1, which would solve several long-standing scaling problems.
Ethereum’s Market Performance
As the news of the proposal circulated, Ethereum’s market performance reflected optimism. At the time of writing, Ethereum was trading at $2,484.36, representing an increase of nearly 3% over the last 24 hours.
The global market cap of Ethereum stands at approximately $299.15 billion, having risen by 2.74%. Trading volume has surged by over 53% during the same period, indicating heightened interest among investors.
Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, expressed his support for EIP-7781 on GitHub. He said the plan fits in nicely with the more general objectives set forth by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and other Ethereum scaling groups. This support emphasises how the idea would affect Ethereum’s agenda for scalability.
Approval of EIP-7781 would improve Ethereum’s performance and establish Ethereum’s place in the competitive blockchain network market. Increased data capacity and faster block times may draw more projects and developers to the Ethereum ecosystem, promoting growth and innovation.