Key Points
- Ethereum proposal EIP-7781 aims to cut block times from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, boosting throughput by 50%.
- The proposal could enhance user experience of Ethereum smart contracts but may pose risks to solo stakers.
Developers have recently proposed a change to Ethereum’s block times. The proposal, known as EIP-7781, plans to reduce these times from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. This 33% decrease could potentially increase the overall throughput by 50%.
On October 5, Ben Adams, co-founder of Illyriad Games, presented this proposal. Its goal is to decrease the block times on the Ethereum mainnet. Block time is the average time it takes for validators to verify transactions and solve the hash.
Effects of the Proposal
If block time drops from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, the EIP-7781 proposal will increase the latency of based rollups. It will also boost the capacity of blobs, which can help reduce Layer-2 network fees.
On October 6, a developer known as Cygaar described EIP-7781 as the first significant step towards enhancing Ethereum’s base layer. They noted that much of the current development effort is shifting towards Ethereum Layer 2 networks for scaling solutions.
In addition to increasing the mainnet throughput, the proposal would spread out bandwidth usage over time. This would decrease the bandwidth requirements and increase individual block and blob counts. Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, has voiced his approval for the EIP-7781 proposal on GitHub.
Drake stated that the proposal aligns with broader goals from Ethereum scaling organizations as well as co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He also mentioned that reducing block times to 8 seconds would make decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap v3 1.22x more efficient. This could save around $100M in CEX-DEX arbitrage per year, leading to better execution for users.
Concerns and Reactions
The EIP-7781 proposal could improve the user experience of Ethereum smart contracts. It could also reduce the confirmation times by an additional 33% while reducing the peak load across slots. However, some developers have voiced concerns that shortening the block time could pose risks to solo stakers.
Shorter block times could cause execution state growth, which would increase blockchain data. This would require more powerful hardware and higher bandwidth to process and transmit the blockchain’s state more quickly.
Adam Cochran, partner at Cinnehaim Ventures, stated that this EIP seems reasonable with its imposition on solo stakers. He also mentioned that the gas limit per block should remain unchanged. Cochran expressed that he would like to see tests on I/O hardware and staker return ping times to ensure it doesn’t affect home stakers.
However, the increased demands on stakers could challenge Ethereum’s long-term goal of maintaining decentralization.
