Catenaa, Thursday, July 10, 2025-Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and blockchain researcher Toni Wahrstätter have introduced a new proposal to implement a per-transaction gas limit aimed at bolstering network security.
The draft, dubbed EIP-7983, recommends setting a 16.77 million gas ceiling -equal to 2²⁴-for individual transactions across the network.
Currently, Ethereum imposes a gas cap per block, around 36 million, but no such cap exists for single transactions.
This lack of constraint can expose the network to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and complicate compatibility with zero-knowledge virtual machines and parallel processing. The proposal argues that introducing a per-transaction cap could lead to better load distribution and more predictable transaction execution.
According to the EIP, most transactions today fall well below the proposed threshold, so the impact on existing users and applications is expected to be minimal. Transactions exceeding the 16.77 million gas limit would be automatically rejected.
The change, while not backward-compatible, is designed to strike a balance between transaction complexity and execution efficiency. It would also apply universally, regardless of varying block gas limits set by validators or miners.
The draft is seen as part of Ethereum’s broader effort to enhance network performance and resilience amid growing usage and evolving DeFi applications.
If adopted, EIP-7983 would represent a structural change in how Ethereum processes transactions, signaling a proactive shift in safeguarding the protocol’s scalability and security.
