Just ahead of the Fusaka upgrade for Ethereum, the network has increased its maximum transaction limit by a third. The change was implemented on November 25, 2025, after more than half of the validators (who secure the Ethereum blockchain) approved it.
Why Was It Increased? #
The maximum transaction limit, known as the ‘gas limit,’ was raised in response to requests from users and developers. In a post on X, Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter noted that the community has been pushing for higher gas limits for the past year.
“This is a doubling in a year, and it’s just the beginning,” he wrote. The following image, shared on Gaslimit.Pics, illustrates the trend:
The number of Ethereum blocks on the blockchain with a 45 and 60 million gas limit. Source: Gaslimit.Pics.
The Ethereum network continuously processes ‘blocks’ of transactions. As the chart shows, the number of blocks with a 60 million gas limit has increased significantly.
Reactions on X #
Independent researcher Zhixiong Pan analyzed the change on X, describing it as a well-executed plan. He suggests that Ethereum is methodically raising the gas limit, observing the network’s impact, and then increasing it further once stability is confirmed.
This approach allows Ethereum to maintain its robust security while gradually increasing network speed, addressing both current and future scalability needs.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also commented on X, stating that the higher gas limit is part of a tailored optimization strategy. By making certain computationally intensive operations more expensive in conjunction with a higher gas limit, a higher throughput can be achieved on the base layer. He expects gas limits to continue rising in the near future.
A Faster Ecosystem #
The gas limit increase coincides with a surge in throughput on Layer 2 networks designed to make Ethereum faster. According to data from GrowThePie, these networks recently hit a record 31,000 transactions per second (TPS).
Lighter was the standout performer, reaching 5,455 TPS, followed by Base at a distance with 137 TPS. Other rollups, which bundle multiple transactions into one, are also steadily increasing their throughput, albeit on a smaller scale.
It’s notable that Ethereum raised the gas limit just days before the planned Fusaka upgrade on December 3, 2025. The upgrade itself is primarily focused on scaling and improving rollups.