Ethereum's Gas Limit Expansion: Developers Eye 3X to 5X Capacity Boost in 2025

The Ethereum network just crossed a major milestone with its gas limit increasing from 45 million to 60 million, marking the first concrete step in an ambitious scaling roadmap. But according to Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano, this 60 million ceiling is far from the final target—it’s merely the beginning of a much larger expansion plan that developers have been strategizing.

The Real Target: 180 Million and Beyond

During a recent Bankless podcast appearance, Sassano revealed that core developers and researchers have set their sights on reaching at least a 180 million gas limit within the coming years. “That’s the floor,” Sassano emphasized, suggesting the network could potentially climb even higher. More aggressively, some Ethereum core developers are actively exploring the possibility of a fivefold gas limit increase within a single year, with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin among those championing this more radical approach.

This matters because gas limit directly determines how much computational work the Ethereum network can pack into each block. A higher ceiling means more transactions, swaps, token transfers, and smart contract executions can be processed simultaneously.

Repricing Strategy: How Ethereum Can Scale Without Breaking Things

The ingenious part of this scaling plan isn’t just about blindly raising the gas limit. Instead, Ethereum developers are proposing a repricing mechanism that redistributes costs across different network activities. By making certain operations significantly cheaper while increasing costs for less efficient ones, the network gains breathing room.

Sassano provided a concrete example: a basic ETH transfer currently consumes 21,000 gas units. Through repricing optimization, this could be reduced to just 6,000 gas—representing a 70% cost reduction. Meanwhile, more resource-intensive operations would face higher pricing to maintain network equilibrium. “We’re basically trading efficiencies,” Sassano explained, highlighting how this approach lets Ethereum achieve higher throughput without proportionally increasing user costs for routine transactions.

Timeline: Fusaka Upgrade and Beyond

The technical groundwork for these changes is progressing ahead of schedule. Sassano co-authored the relevant Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) alongside core developer Ben Adams, with plans to integrate it into the Glamsterdam upgrade slated for the first half of 2026.

Before that milestone, the Fusaka upgrade—Ethereum’s next major network enhancement focused on scalability—is approaching rapidly. On October 29, Fusaka successfully transitioned to the Hoodi testnet, setting the stage for its mainnet launch on December 3. This upgrade represents a critical stepping stone toward the ambitious gas limit expansion targets.

Community Momentum Building

The shift in sentiment across the Ethereum developer community has been striking. Ben Adams noted on social media that the gas limit increase debate transformed from “too risky” to “already live” in under a year, challenging skeptics who previously viewed such upgrades as reckless. Toni Wahrstätter, another core Ethereum developer, observed that achieving a 2X increase in a single year marks just the beginning of an even more ambitious roadmap.

The recent gas limit increase already earned support from over 513,000 validators, demonstrating broad consensus across the network. This validator backing suggests the foundation is solid for pursuing the planned threefold and potential fivefold expansions in the near term.