TL;DR
- Vitalik Buterin warns that Ethereum’s blob count is nearing its limit, with 75% of capacity used.
- He proposes increasing the number of blobs per block to improve scalability and support layer 2 solutions.
- The EIP-7623 Proposal seeks to reduce the maximum block size to allow more space for blobs, facing resistance from some L2 protocols.
Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has expressed concern over the current state of the network’s “blob count,” a component introduced during the Dencun upgrade, aimed at improving Ethereum’s scalability and optimizing the capacity of layer 2 (L2) protocols. In a recent conversation following the latest developer meeting, Buterin warned that blob space is currently at 75% capacity, dangerously close to its limit.
The blob space is a solution designed to temporarily store large amounts of data, primarily benefiting layer 2 rollups. Currently, Ethereum allows a target of three blobs per block, with a maximum of six.
However, Vitalik has proposed increasing this number to a target of four blobs per block, with a maximum of eight. This measure would allow L2s to store more data in each Ethereum block, increasing their capacity to post information to the network.
To achieve this expansion, Vitalik has backed the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7623, which seeks to increase the data cost in transactions that use Ethereum primarily for data availability. According to this proposal, the maximum block size would be reduced from the current 2.7 megabytes to approximately 1 megabyte. This change would create more space to increase the gas limit per block or the number of blobs, facilitating the network’s expansion.
Vitalik’s Proposal Faces Resistance from Some Protocols
One of the obstacles to implementing this proposal is the resistance of some layer 2 protocols to migrating to the use of blobs due to the potential market congestion. Nonetheless, Buterin insisted that it is crucial to continue with this transition to prevent the progress in Ethereum scalability from stalling.
Buterin believes that layer 2 solutions are key to Ethereum’s scalability but emphasized that these solutions must remain decentralized. Moreover, the proposal to increase the “blob count” has received support from important actors within the Ethereum ecosystem, such as Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base, Coinbase’s layer 2.
Pollak agreed with Vitalik, noting that this change could reduce the maximum block size in extreme cases and provide the additional capacity needed for L2s, which are growing at an accelerated pace.
Finally, Ethereum developers are also considering splitting the upcoming Pectra upgrade into two parts, which could speed up its deployment, introducing improvements in scalability and staking limits for validators.
