Ethereum’s core developers are driving major technological changes that could potentially reshape the speed at which networks process transactions.
On June 21st, Barnabé Monnot, one of Ethereum’s core contributors, proposed a new proposal, EIP-7782.
According to him:
“As shorter slot times, Ethereum becomes a better confirmation engine. This is probably one of the main value propositions for apps and rollups that settle on the Ethereum L1. Everyone is profiting directly.”
EIP-7782 Benefits
He explained that the proposed changes will improve confirmation speed, reduce transaction costs for decentralized platforms, and create better terms for cross-chain protocols.
The proposal also includes adjusting the timing of several core blockchain operations, such as proofs and aggregation windows.
On the EIP-7782, the block proposal slot is reduced to 4 seconds.
Monnot suggests that EIP will be the headline for Ethereum’s upcoming Gramas Terdardam upgrades. He said:
“There are several slot rebuild proposals already made for Gramaster Dam (EIPS 7732 and 7886), and we use Gramaster Dam’s proposal as a place to highlight the value of shorter slot times, with an emphasis on scaling to advance the conversation towards implementation.”
Meanwhile, this faster slot time push is consistent with the broader goal of the Ethereum Foundation to enhance layer 1 performance of the network and improve the user experience.
With this in mind, paradigm research partner Storm Slivkoff supports this proposal. He noted that reducing latency could be the most valuable upgrade included in Gramaster Dam, especially as transaction fees fall below $0.10.
In such an environment, increasing the block size reduces the return. Instead, improving the quality of the blocks becomes even more important.
Ethereum ecosystem growth
The proposal comes when Ethereum activities hit new highs amidst increasing institutional adoption.
Last week, more than 20 million active addresses interacted with the network and set records, according to GrowthEpie data. However, most of that activity occurred in Layer 2 networks, such as Coinbase Support Base.
Therefore, Ethereum’s Layer-1 developers are currently proposing to make their core network faster and more efficient. If successful, the proposed slot timecut could improve performance where speed, cost and ease of use are most important.