Ethereum’s Buterin Says Pectra Will Double L2 Capacity

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has stated that the upcoming Petra hard fork will be able to double the capacity of layer-2 networks. 

This will be achieved by increasing the blob target from 3 to 6.

“Blobs” are large data packets that were introduced with the Dencun hard fork in early 2024 in order to enhance the scalability of layer-2s. 

Buterin previously voiced support for increasing blob space in the upcoming Petra upgrade. He stressed the importance of scaling, warning that people would switch to other chains. “If Ethereum does not offer this, then people will find it elsewhere, and people are going to have an insecure blockchain experience that is not on Ethereum,” he said during a recent All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call. 

The Petra hard fork, which includes a slew of various Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs), was scheduled for a March release last month. It will increase validator staking limits and introduce upgraded wallets that offer a better user experience, among other things.  

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It is worth noting that Petra was initially supposed to be the most ambitious upgrade Ethereum upgrade ever with 20 improvement proposals. However, it was later divided into two. 

Buterin previously said that even a 33% blob capacity increase would be “more valuable” than three of the Pectra EIPs. “If you look at the ratio of efforts to value, the amount of actual value here is quite high in terms of increasing the amount of activity that can happen,” Buterin said. 

In his most recent social media post, Buterin opined that the blob target should be made staker-voted. In such a way, it can increase in response to tech improvements without having to wait for future hard forks.