Dankrad Feist Proposes Ethereum 100X Scaling Proposal

Ethereum developer Dankrad Feist has submitted EIP-7938 designed to increase Ethereum's gas limit exponentially.

Ethereum developer Dankrad Feist has submitted EIP-7938 to increase the gas limit on the Ethereum blockchain. The improvement proposal aims to scale the network's capacity by 100 times over the next four years.

The plan is an "unconventional" one, as community members have been poking holes in the proposal for being a bit "overwhelming." But Feist says that a 100X scaling for Ethereum is the solution to waning network activity.

"I do think it is time for being unconventional, because the current way of doing things is likely to make Ethereum irrelevant over the next 5-10 years," Feist said.

This comment comes as Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson believes that Ethereum will "fall" within the next 15 years due to its outdated technology and the fragmentation of liquidity across several Layer 2s. Additionally, Solana's rise and lively network activity have not only sparked speculation of a "flippening" but are fueling conversation of Ethereum's downfall.

Apart from offering a lifeline to the network, Feist says that the 100X scaling proposal will be the strongest statement of intent for the network.

"It feels like there's an urgent need to coordinate on-chain towards a shared goal, and this proposal could be a starting point for that coordination," he explained.

The proposal also offers strategic benefits to Layer 1 while preventing fragmentation of liquidity across several L2s.

"We can't really compete with Solana on-chain if we're still trying to do batch operations in L2s and slowly migrate liquidity over the course of several years. We need to be able to compete on-chain on relatively equal footing to have a chance."

The expert adds that Ethereum can scale the L1 by 100X without losing its verifiability and censorship resistance perks. Finally, Feist says committing to the scaling timeline will offer a range of benefits including the advantages of "working backwards from a goal" rather than sticking to small, incremental changes.

"Ethereum L1 is currently still the home for DeFi but this might not be true for much longer if we don't start strongly supporting applications," Feist warns.

The developer concludes by saying that the final outlook might see some part of the network look like Solana but he says comparison is "irrelevant."

"If we want to survive, we need to be able to quickly iterate and adapt to the changing competitive landscape. We can't afford to slowly migrate liquidity over the course of several years while slowly increasing gas limits by 10% every year or two."