Despite having solidly planted itself as one of the best blockchains available today, Ethereum has not been able to overcome or outrun its lingering bane: outrageous gas fees on the network.
In steadily building towards its proof-of-stake transition, there has been a barrage of developments on the Ethereum network, with many looking to finally put an end to the gas crisis. On this note, Ethereum implemented EIP-1559 in August 2021, but it failed to meet expectations.
Buterin Proposes a Multidimensional EIP-1559
In the original EIP-1559 implemented on the Ethereum network, all resources are bundled into a “single multidimensional resource.” However, because different resources have different requirements, Ethereum gas fees are usually sub-optimal.
This happens because some resources require more processing power than others, these resources therefore naturally incur higher gas fees. However, because resources are all bundled together, smaller resources also ended up with exorbitant gas fees.
To solve this problem, Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed an improvement to the network’s current pricing structure, a “Multidimensional EIP-1559.”
Buterin laid out two options for the network. The first solution Buterin proposed involves calculating the gas cost for resources individually. This would be done by dividing the base fee for one unit of the resource by the base gas fee.
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The second option would involve setting a base fee for using resources, however, burst (high demand) gas limits would be affixed to each resource, rather than having a base level, as in the first solution. Priority fees would also be based on a percentage instead of being fixed.
On the Flipside
- There have been concerns about the implementation of a multidimensional fee structure on Ethereum as it is a “significant engineering undertaking.”
Why You Should Care
Fixing the challenge of gas fees on the network would be a major milestone for Ethereum as it prepares for its PoS transition.
