TL;DR Breakdown
- Vitalik Buterin suggests decongesting the Ethereum blockchain through EIP-4488.
- Ethereum Network has observed customer migration to affordable solutions.
Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum creator, has suggested EIP-4488 (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) to tackle high Layer 2 gas charges. Buterin is proposing a limit on the general transaction calldata. Additionally, the limit will tackle the total fees of Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions, including several risks on the ETH network.
Two veterans, Ethereum 2.0 R&D Engineer Ansgar Dietrichs together with Buterin, established the improvement. The network upgrade will be temporary as Ethereum will soon realize robust solutions.
Recently, the network’s gas fees have inflated. Infact Ethereum has observed a user departure linked to spiking fees. Customers want low-cost networks with the same capabilities. Buterin pointed out issues on spiking fees at the Network’s Magicians meeting.
Layer 2 scaling solutions are the only trustless options for the network. Still, gas charges using the network protocols are not affordable for some people. Therefore dealing with rollups costs is an urgent matter.
Buterin’s proposals
Russian-Canadian programmer gave an option wherein the network can cut cost parameters excluding a limit to the block size. However, he thinks insecurity could arise in lowering the calldata gas.
EIP-4488 targets to decrease data transaction costs by five times. Calldata is the key mechanism for ZK-Rollups and Optimistic Rollups. The suggestion will also add a limit for all transaction calldata in each block.
Before this new solution, escalating gas fees were managed by a rollup layer two solutions on Ethereum. Here transactions are executed off the main Ethereum chain. Additionally, the transaction info is plugged in layer 1.
Here success is achieved through smart contracts. Their primary task is to roll up transaction data. The info that is highly compressed is managed by network contributors known as validators. These participants submit the data to the main chain. They have the minimum information required to verify the validity of transactions.
Polygon Hermez and the Loopring solutions are more affordable than layer one solutions. Optimism and ZKSync rollups are relatively affordable too.
Implementing EIP-4488
Assuming Buterin’s proposal is accepted, an upgrade will be necessary to foresee changes in gas prices for the Ethereum network. The miners will be required to step up and follow the rule. They need to forbid more transactions on a block after the total calldata has reached the limit.
Many participants are also considering other alternatives like implementing a soft limit. There have also been congestion issues on (NFT) sales. This could pressure customers to pay high rates to cater for execution gas deficiency.
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