EIP-7983 Proposal: A New Attempt at Ethereum Transaction Gas Limit

The Ethereum mainnet is facing challenges related to uneven execution efficiency and resource scheduling pressure. In response to this issue, Vitalik Buterin and Toni Wahrstaetter proposed the EIP-7983 proposal, which is currently in the community discussion stage. This proposal suggests setting a hard limit of 16,777,216 gas (i.e., 2²⁴) for each transaction, aiming to enhance network stability and execution efficiency.

This idea has been explored in previous proposals such as EIP-7825, where developers attempted to lay the groundwork for the modular development and performance optimization of Ethereum by introducing resource boundaries.

Core Content of EIP-7983

Currently, Ethereum allows a single transaction to theoretically use the entire block's gas. This design, while flexible, may lead to issues such as resource concentration and uneven node load, affecting overall performance. The goal of EIP-7983 is to limit the maximum gas usage for a single transaction to prevent any single transaction from consuming too many network resources. After setting a hard limit of 16,777,216 gas, transactions exceeding this limit will be rejected during block validation.

The core idea of the proposal is to set a limit to force some oversized transactions to be split, avoiding a single transaction from occupying too many resources. This restriction will not change the total gas capacity of the block, nor does it involve any modification of consensus rules; it only introduces a limiting condition during the transaction execution process.

For execution environments that rely on parallel computing, such as zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVM) and future multi-threaded execution models, this limit helps to prevent extreme transactions from slowing down the entire block processing flow. In the execution layer logic, this limit is closer to a "resource usage specification," allowing each transaction to be more evenly divided under the premise of a constant total amount, facilitating overall network scheduling and execution.

The Actual Effects and Potential Issues of EIP-7983

The EIP-7983 proposal aims to set a gas limit for single transactions to reduce the risk of denial of service (DoS) caused by extreme transactions, while also enhancing the overall predictability of the execution process. For the runtime environment, this limit helps simplify the validator execution logic and alleviates the pressure caused by concentrated resource consumption.

The proposal aligns with the modular architecture, zkVM integration, and L2 scalability paths that Ethereum is advancing. Due to large transactions being forced to split, this design is expected to enhance Ethereum's underlying adaptability to parallel processing, further supporting multi-layer computational architectures. From an implementation perspective, EIP-7983 does not involve changes to consensus rules or protocol layers; the main impact is that clients, wallets, and development tools need to update the transaction construction and interface display methods to accommodate the new limit logic.

However, the constraints of this proposal on the execution layer have also sparked some discussions. Some advanced applications, such as contract deployment and complex DeFi operations, may require additional transaction splitting, which could lead to an increased complexity of user interactions. In addition, the differences in how various platforms display and handle gas may result in understanding costs and inconsistencies in usage during the initial phase. More importantly, the denial of service attacks that this proposal addresses primarily occur during the transaction execution phase and are not directly related to the manipulation of transaction ordering in the mempool using high gas transactions. Therefore, it is more inclined to limit resource overload on the node side rather than targeting all forms of network attacks.

Overall, EIP-7983 has practical significance in enhancing node execution stability and supporting future parallel architectures, but its scope is limited and it still needs to be combined with other mechanisms to address the broader network security issues.

Community Response

There are different opinions in the community regarding EIP-7983. Supporters argue that setting a gas limit for transactions aligns with the direction of Ethereum's simplicity, security, and modular development, and helps improve network performance and user experience, especially in an environment where zkVM and L2 solutions are gradually maturing. Opponents, on the other hand, focus on the complexity and compatibility risks brought about by transaction splitting, and point out that network issues are more often due to smart contract design rather than transaction gas limits.

EIP-7983 reflects the community's concerns about network stability and execution efficiency. This proposal faces challenges and disagreements, but it provides a potential solution for the execution and scalability capabilities of the Ethereum base layer. Considering Ethereum's current multi-layered scaling and modular development direction, EIP-7983 has certain practical value, but its ultimate effect needs to be assessed based on community adoption and implementation results.