Bitrabo Editorial
On October 5, a new Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-7781) was introduced by Ben Adams, a co-founder of Illyriad Games. This proposal aims to enhance Ethereum’s transaction capacity by shortening the network’s slot time from 12 seconds to 9 seconds, which could lead to a 33% increase in transaction throughput.
The goal of this change is to improve how bandwidth is utilized over time, which would help to decrease the peak bandwidth needed. By optimizing bandwidth demands, the adjustment is expected to maintain efficiency and ease the burden on node operators, especially those with limited resources. Adams highlighted that this proposal focuses on enhancing throughput while preserving network accessibility.
Evaluating the Feasibility of the Proposal
In his formal GitHub proposal, Adams stated, “Shortening Ethereum’s slot time from 12 seconds to 9 seconds could enhance transaction throughput by around 33% without raising individual block or blob counts. This would lead to a more evenly distributed bandwidth usage and reduced peak requirements while keeping the network efficient.”
Implementing EIP-7781 relies on two additional proposals, EIP-7623 and EIP-7778, which play a crucial role in maintaining network stability at a higher block production rate. These EIPs are intended to address potential downsides of reducing the slot time, such as increased orphan rates and network instability.
The focus of EIP-7781 is to achieve a balance between higher throughput and network accessibility, ensuring that node efficiency is preserved without overloading the system. This balance is essential to uphold Ethereum’s decentralized nature, allowing participants with less advanced infrastructure to continue running nodes effectively.
Justin Drake, a notable researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, showed cautious support for the proposal. He commented, “I support lowering slot times to 8 seconds for multiple reasons: it boosts throughput significantly, aligning with a suggested 40M gas limit, as well as an 8 blob limit proposed by Vitalik.”
Drake also pointed out potential advantages for decentralized exchanges (DEXs), suggesting that this change could enhance the efficiency of platforms like Uniswap v3 by approximately 1.22 times. This improvement could lead to annual savings of around $100 million in trades between centralized exchanges and DEXs.
Nonetheless, he warned of a potential issue: “One concern of reducing slot times is that it may make timing games slightly more pronounced due to the decreased slot-to-ping ratio. With an 80ms ping time and a 9s slot time, the ratio remains favorable.”
Adam Cochran, from CEHV, also expressed support but mentioned some caution for smaller stakers. He stated on X, “This seems reasonable for solo stakers, provided the gas limit per block remains stable. Testing I/O hardware and staker return ping times is essential to ensure it doesn’t negatively impact home stakers, but it should generally be manageable.”
However, some within the community have reservations. A pseudonymous researcher known as 0xSmit raised concerns about legacy smart contracts that have been programmed with a 12-second block time. He warned, “Many contracts have set annual values based on 12-second blocks. This change might disrupt those contracts, particularly if they lack upgrade options.”
As of the latest update, ETH is priced at $2,463.