Vitalik Buterin Introduces EIP-7983 for Transaction Gas Cap
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and core researcher Toni Wahrstätter have introduced EIP-7983, a new Ethereum Improvement Proposal designed to cap the maximum gas per transaction at 16.77 million. The aim? Rein in potential denial-of-service (DoS) attack vectors, stabilize the network, and pave the way for better compatibility with zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVMs).
Currently, Ethereum allows a single transaction to consume the entire block’s gas limit, which theoretically could be exploited to paralyze the network. EIP-7983 seeks to close that loophole by limiting the gas usage of any single transaction, ensuring more balanced gas distribution and smoother network behavior.
Why 16.77 Million?
The proposed gas cap—2²⁴, or 16.77 million—isn’t a random number. According to Buterin and Wahrstätter, it was selected to accommodate modern smart contract deployments, including DeFi protocols and complex contract interactions, while still protecting the chain from unpredictable execution patterns.
Even under this cap, most current Ethereum transactions fall well below the threshold, so backward compatibility issues should be minimal. However, any transaction that requests gas above the limit will be rejected during block validation, ensuring it can’t even make it onto the network.
Better Future for zkVMs and Modular Ethereum
One of the standout features of EIP-7983 is its focus on zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVMs). These powerful privacy-enhancing and scaling tools often bundle multiple computations into single transactions. By requiring large transactions to be split into smaller ones, the new cap improves zkVM integration without compromising Ethereum’s scalability vision.
Also, because the cap is independent from the block gas limit, miners and validators can still make consensus-level gas limit decisions as usual. That means this proposal won't conflict with existing miner behavior or affect block production incentives.
Buterin’s Vision for a Simpler, Leaner Ethereum
The gas cap proposal is part of Buterin’s larger campaign to “simplify Ethereum.” In May 2025, he shared plans to restructure Ethereum’s protocol architecture across its execution, consensus, and coordination layers, pushing for a minimalist design that mirrors Bitcoin’s efficiency-first philosophy.
He warned that Ethereum’s current complexity leads to higher development costs, longer release cycles, and a broader attack surface. EIP-7983 reflects this ethos of simplification: fewer surprises, tighter limits, and smarter execution paths.
In recent months, Buterin also introduced the concept of “pluralistic identity,” a decentralized identity system designed to protect privacy and digital rights while enabling fair participation in online platforms.
Looking Ahead
EIP-7983 builds on previous proposals like EIP-7825, which sought more predictable gas behavior, but now takes a stronger stance by enforcing a hard cap. If approved by the developer community and implemented in a future fork, this could become a defining shift in Ethereum’s gas economics.
While no activation timeline has been confirmed yet, the conversation is gaining traction—and it reflects Ethereum’s ongoing commitment to being both more secure and developer-friendly as it evolves into its next phase.
