Ethereum Scaling

Ethereum scaling encompasses layer 1 protocol upgrades and layer 2 solutions that enhance the blockchain’s transaction throughput.

What is Ethereum Scaling?

Ethereum scaling addresses the blockchain’s limitations in handling high transaction volumes by implementing protocol upgrades and off-chain mechanisms.

On the layer 1 level, recent upgrades like Dencun (activated in March 2024) introduced data blobs to store rollup data more efficiently. The Pectra upgrade, live since May 7, 2025, merged Prague and Electra execution layer updates, increasing the maximum validator stake from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH to consolidate validators and cut operational costs. The upcoming Fusaka hard fork, scheduled for early November 2025, will further boost scalability by expanding blob capacity.

Layer 2 solutions build on these upgrades to process transactions off-chain while inheriting Ethereum’s security. Rollups, such as optimistic (e.g., Arbitrum) and zero-knowledge (e.g., Linea zkEVM), batch thousands of transactions into a single layer 1 proof, achieving up to 10,000 TPS per chain in validium variants, with multiple chains running in parallel for higher aggregate throughput.

Future plans under the Ethereum “Surge” phase and Lean Ethereum Roadmap aim for LeanVM updates improving recursion speed and sustainability for long-term scaling beyond 100,000 TPS.