Original title: “Increase Ethereum throughput by 50%? Quickly understand the new community proposal EIP-7781》
Original author: Scof, ChainCatcher
Recently, a new improvement proposal (EIP) in the Ethereum community has sparked discussion. The new EIP-7781 proposal aims to improve the overall throughput of the Ethereum network by shortening block times and increasing data processing capacity. The proposal was put forward by Illyriad Games co-founder Ben Adams on October 5. Simply put, it isReduced block generation time from 12 seconds to 8 secondsincreasing the data processing capacity of the block and increasing the throughput by 50%. Additionally, it plans to reduce fees on the Ethereum Layer 2 network by increasing rollup-based latency.
Ben Adams described EIP-7781 as increasing transaction throughput by approximately 33% without increasing the number of individual blocks or blobs; allocating bandwidth usage over time to reduce peak bandwidth requirements and maintain network efficiency ;This is equivalent to increasing the number of blobs from 6 to 8, or increasing the gas limit from 30M to 40M; however this approach does not increase peak bandwidth.
Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, expressed support for the proposal. He believes that shortening the slot time to 8 seconds will significantly improve the overall performance of the network and user experience. This change can not only increase network throughput by 50%, improve the efficiency of DEX (such as Uniswap v3), save approximately US$100 million in CEX-DEX arbitrage costs every year, but also optimize Layer by shortening the confirmation time by one-third. 1 User experience of smart contracts. At the same time, reducing slot time can also better distribute peak loads, making resource utilization of execution clients during non-validation peak periods more balanced, in line with Ethereum’s long-term expansion goals. Despite the risk of increased time gaming, Justin Drake sees the change as a key step toward a more efficient, scalable network.
Source: https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/8931
Currently, discussions on EIP-7781 focus onThe balance between efficiency improvement and decentralization。
Shortening block times and increasing throughput will obviously improve user experience, but they may also increase the risk of network centralization. As Web3 researcher Vikram pointed out, validator nodes will face higher hardware and bandwidth requirements, which may make it difficult for individual stakers, especially those running independent nodes, to keep up with the growth of the network. Increasing hardware requirements would weaken the decentralized nature of the network, especially in the Ethereum network, where decentralization and decentralization have always been one of its core strengths.If the barrier to entry for stakers is raised, small or individual stakers may exit the network, resulting in more verification rights being concentrated in large institutions.This centralization would go against the original intent of Ethereum, making Ethereum’s trust model even more reliant on a small number of nodes. Cinnehaim Ventures partner Adam Cochran noted that while the proposal seemed “reasonable,” further testing was needed to ensure it would not negatively impact investors working from home.
However, supporters of EIP-7781 believe that although there will be certain hardware requirements, these will not seriously affect decentralization. Vitalik also recently proposed lowering the staking threshold from 36 ETH to 16 or 24 ETH, which may attract more individuals to participate in staking. At the same time, the proposal can better balance the bandwidth usage of the network and reduce load pressure during peak hours. In addition, this proposal also means that Ethereum has made more profound considerations for the underlying expansion of Layer 1. At the same time, Layer 2 expansion solutions will continue to develop. Therefore, the implementation of EIP-7781 not only optimizes the performance of existing networks, but also paves the way for future expansion. In an article on X, anonymous developer Cygaar called the proposal the “first major” step toward improving Ethereum’s base layer. While much of the development focus has been on scaling solutions for Ethereum’s Layer 2, this upgrade addresses efficiency issues in the core network.
Overall, EIP-7781 is not only a key step for Ethereum to improve performance, but its long-term impact on network decentralization also needs to be considered. If this proposal can be implemented smoothly, it will make the Ethereum network more competitive, especially in application scenarios in areas such as DeFi and smart contracts. At press time, ETH was trading at $2,445, up 1.08% in the past 24 hours.
