This proposal follows a recent adjustment where Ethereum validators raised the gas limit from 30 million to 36 million in February 2025, marking the first change since the London hard fork in August 2021.

Feist contrasted this predictable approach with the current miner/operator voting mechanism, which can lead to unpredictability and stagnation.

Currently, Ethereum's transaction throughput is limited to about 15-30 transactions per second, significantly lower than competitors like Solana, which can handle between 800 and over 1,000 transactions per second.

If implemented, the changes proposed in EIP-9698 could enhance Ethereum's competitiveness against rival blockchains by closing the throughput gap.

On April 27, 2025, Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist introduced Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 9698, which aims to significantly increase the gas limit from the current 36 million to 3.6 billion, potentially enabling the network to process up to 2,000 transactions per second.

The proposal outlines a deterministic gas limit growth schedule that will begin around June 1, 2025, with gas limits increasing tenfold every two years.

In addition to EIP-9698, the upcoming Pectra upgrade, set to launch next week, will enhance Ethereum's scalability by increasing blob throughput and reducing Layer 1 fees.

Despite the potential benefits, some developers have expressed concerns about the rapid pace of the proposed increases, advocating for more gradual adjustments.

To address concerns about rapid increases straining less-optimized nodes, the proposal includes gradual increments that allow developers time to adapt and optimize their systems.

Feist emphasized that the proposed changes would provide a sustainable and transparent trajectory for gas limit increases, aligning with advancements in hardware and protocol efficiency.

Ethereum core developer Lukasz Rozmej highlighted the importance of careful coordination to prevent unexpected strain on the network as these changes are implemented.

Separately, Ethereum developers are also exploring a fourfold increase to the gas limit in the upcoming Fusaka hard fork through EIP-9678.