Press Labs Inc. 
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has introduced a new proposal, EIP-7983, aimed at boosting Ethereum’s security, efficiency, and predictability by placing a cap on how much gas a single transaction can use.
The proposed maximum: 16.77 million gas (2²⁴), a number chosen to support most advanced DeFi and smart contract use cases, without putting the network at risk.
Why This Matters
Under the current system, a single transaction can theoretically consume an entire block’s gas, which opens the door to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks or costly execution failures. EIP-7983 would prevent that by rejecting any transaction attempting to exceed the cap during block validation.
“This improves network stability and transaction cost predictability,” the proposal notes.
The Big Picture: Simpler, Safer Ethereum
This proposal aligns with Buterin’s broader effort to simplify Ethereum’s base-layer protocol, a push inspired by Bitcoin’s lean design. He argues that Ethereum’s increasing complexity leads to higher costs, longer development timelines, and more surface area for bugs and attacks.
EIP-7983 follows in the footsteps of recent proposals like EIP-7825 (execution cost predictability) and his stateless client vision, all designed to streamline the Ethereum protocol by 2030.
Key Benefits of the 16.77M Gas Cap
- Increased DoS resistance: Single transactions can’t hog block capacity.
- Better zkVM compatibility: Forces large zk-rollup transactions to break into smaller chunks.
- Stable performance: More consistent execution and network load.
“Most existing use cases already fall under this limit,” the draft states, emphasizing minimal disruption for users or developers.
Not Backward Compatible, But That’s Okay
Transactions above the 16.77M limit would no longer be valid, but data shows nearly all Ethereum activity is already well below the threshold. That means the upgrade would likely go unnoticed by the average user, unless you’re testing gas-heavy edge cases or deploying monster contracts.
