Research Summary
The report by Paradigm explores Ethereum’s state growth and its impact on the gas limit, debunking misconceptions about it being the primary scaling bottleneck. It uses a data-driven approach to analyze state growth, revealing that modern consumer hardware can handle the current rate of Ethereum’s state growth for at least a decade. The report also discusses Ethereum’s roadmap to eliminate state growth as a scaling bottleneck and increase the gas limit to support a global-scale decentralized financial system.
Key Takeaways
Ethereum’s State Growth and Hardware Constraints
- Understanding State Growth: State growth refers to the accumulation of new accounts, contract bytecode, and contract storage. The report identifies four critical hardware constraints for Ethereum nodes: Network IO, Storage size, Memory size, and Storage IO. The relationship between scaling bottlenecks and hardware constraints is depicted in a diagram, illustrating how each bottleneck affects different aspects of node hardware.
- Current State Size: Ethereum’s state size is a critical concern, with the current state occupying approximately 245.5 GiB on disk. The state is composed of accounts (14.1%), contract bytecodes (4.3%), and contract storage (81.7%), with the latter being the most significant contributor to the state size.
- State Contributions by Smart Contract Protocols: A detailed breakdown of state contributions by smart contract protocols shows that tokens, specifically ERC-20 and ERC-721, are the largest contributors, occupying 27.2% and 21.6% of the state, respectively. At least 7.4% of Ethereum’s state is considered dormant, with large contracts from earlier, less expensive times no longer in active use.
- State Growth Rate: Ethereum’s state growth rate is currently around 2.62 GiB per month, a decrease from the peak rate of 5.99 GiB per month, with projections estimating the total state size to be between 396 GiB and 606 GiB in five years. The growth rate of Ethereum’s state, described as 12.8% per year, is misleading as the absolute growth rate is declining while the state size increases.
- Hardware Sustainability: A simple model, assuming no future hardware improvements, shows that current consumer hardware with 4TiB storage and 64GiB memory can sustain the current state growth rate for decades. Storage-wise, nodes with 2TiB disks can support the current state growth rate for over a decade, while a 4TiB drive could last nearly half a century.
Actionable Insights
- Monitor Ethereum’s State Growth: Stakeholders should keep a close eye on Ethereum’s state growth and its impact on the gas limit. Understanding these dynamics can provide insights into Ethereum’s scalability and potential bottlenecks.
- Consider Hardware Capabilities: Those running Ethereum nodes should consider their hardware capabilities in relation to the state growth rate. Adequate storage and memory size are crucial to prevent performance degradation.
- Explore Ethereum’s Roadmap: Stakeholders should familiarize themselves with Ethereum’s roadmap, which includes strategies to eliminate state growth as a scaling bottleneck. This could have significant implications for the future scalability of the Ethereum network.
- Understand the Impact of Smart Contract Protocols: Understanding the state contributions by different smart contract protocols can provide insights into their impact on Ethereum’s state size. This could be particularly relevant for those involved in the development or use of such protocols.
- Plan for Long-Term Sustainability: Those involved in Ethereum should consider the long-term sustainability of the network in relation to state growth. This includes considering potential future hardware improvements and the implementation of solutions to state growth.
