Responding to Succinct Labs’ real-time proving milestone within the ecosystem, Vitalik Buterin says the Ethereum workforce hopes to extend the Layer1 fuel restrict by ten to 100 occasions.
In a current put up, Buterin commented on an X person’s skeptical tackle an announcement from Succinct Lab’s co-founder Uma Roy about her workforce’s current demo of a full “zkVM” proof system for the ecosystem’s execution layer.
Though Buterin does congratulate the Succinct workforce on their progress, he proceeds to level out 4 areas that the venture — in addition to the broader community — must sort out so as to make real-time proving a dependable characteristic for customers on the Layer1.
“So, actually wonderful work by @pumatheuma and workforce, however positively nonetheless just a few steps to the ultimate vacation spot,” mentioned Buterin.
Buterin underlined how the Succinct Labs’ demo for real-time Ethereum (ETH) proving mechanism was examined out on average-case timings, not worst case assessments. He emphasised the necessity for worst case timings so as to make the mechanism protected for wider L1 use.
Furthermore, he said in his put up that the Ethereum workforce goals to boost the Layer1 fuel restrict by 10 to 100 occasions its present charge. In line with knowledge from YCharts, Ethereum’s present common fuel restrict is at 35.99 million, a slight enhance from yesterday’s common fuel restrict which stood at 35.98 million.
“We wanna 10-100x the L1 fuel restrict,” mentioned Buterin.

Ethereum’s fuel restrict has reached 35.99 million prior to now 24 hours, Might 21, 2025 | Supply: YCharts
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Buterin additionally mentioned Succinct’s proving mechanism nonetheless lacks formal verification, which is critical to guarantee customers that it’s seamless and comparatively bug-free. Not solely that, the real-time proving system nonetheless wants round 100 kilowatts of energy to churn out proofs on the demonstrated velocity.
Buterin argued that to make it accessible for broader participation, the power price wanted to generate proofs must be round as little as 10 kW. This manner, the power charge is home-use pleasant and would allow small groups or people to run their very own real-time proofs.
What’s Ethereum’s present fuel restrict?
In comparison with a 12 months in the past, on Might 21, 2024, the ecosystem’s fuel restrict has elevated by practically 20%. The quantity elevated by practically 6 million from 30 million one 12 months in the past.
If Ethereum does handle to boost its fuel restrict by 10 to 100 occasions, its fuel restrict might attain as excessive as 360 million to 3600 million. Ethereum’s fuel restrict represents the utmost fuel models wanted to course of a transaction or good contract on the community.
It acts as a cap, stopping transactions from utilizing extreme sources that might result in excessive charges or producing congestion on the community.
Even when real-time proving mechanisms change into accessible on-chain, every one requires a substantial quantity of fuel. Subsequently, so as to make it viable at scale, it might require the next fuel restrict in comparison with what the community’s present block fuel restrict would enable.
Final February, the Ethereum community raised its fuel restrict for the primary time since 2021. The fuel restrict reached 32 million fuel models, surpassing 30 million for the primary time in practically 5 years. On the time, round 51.1% of validators permitted the fuel restrict adjustment and not using a onerous fork.
Learn extra: Ethereum adjusts fuel restrict for the primary time since 2021