Ethereum raises block gas limit to 45 million units

• Ethereum Increases Gas Limit for Scalability
• 45 million block marks progress on the Ethereum network
• EIP-7983 limits gas usage to avoid instability

The Ethereum blockchain has reached a new technical milestone by raising the block gas limit to 45 million units, representing a 25% increase from the previous 36 million set in February 2025. The adjustment took effect at block 22.968.004, after receiving significant support from the network's validator community.

Did you know? 🤔

Ethereum's gas limit is now 45M, scaling network throughput by 25%

It's the second increase this year after a 20% rise from 30M to 36M in early February

Next stop: 60M 🫡

— etherscan.eth July 22, 2025

This change didn't require a hard fork, as Ethereum's architecture allows validators to adjust their settings progressively. Once more than half of them signal approval, the change automatically takes effect. The gas limit defines the amount of computational effort allowed per block and determines how many transactions or smart contracts can be processed simultaneously.

The capacity increase is in line with the network's broader scalability plan. This gives the blockchain the strength to handle growing transaction volumes, which improves the performance of decentralized applications (dApps) and DeFi protocols that rely on Ethereum's infrastructure.

Prior to the February change, the limit had been 30 million since 2021, when it had doubled from the previous 15 million. The new short-term goal is to reach 60 million gas units per block, while the long-term goal is to reach 150 million—a figure that could be made possible with the introduction of the Fusaka hard fork, via Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7935.

To preserve network security during this expansion process, developers implemented EIP-7983, which imposes a limit of 16,77 million gas units per transaction. This safeguard aims to mitigate risks such as denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, ensuring the operational stability of the blockchain.

The increase in gas limits reinforces Ethereum's position as a leading platform for decentralized solutions, while also paving the way for further performance and scalability upgrades in future cycles.