Ethereum could soon run twice as fast with the new 6-second block proposal

Ethereum may soon operate at double its current speed, following a proposal by core developer Barnabé Monnot to cut the network’s slot time in half, from 12 seconds to 6 seconds. The Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7782 proposal could be introduced in the upcoming “Glamsterdam” upgrade, scheduled for 2026.

According to a June 20 Ethereum Magicians article written by Monnot, if the slot time change is implemented, it could reduce the time the Ethereum blockchain takes to finalize transactions and add new blocks to the mainnet. This will improve the blockchain’s performance and usability for decentralized apps (dApps), wallets, and defi protocols. 

Halving slot time to boost confirmation speeds

Ethereum currently operates on a 12-second slot cycle. Under the proposed change, this would be reduced to just 6 seconds, doubling the number of blocks produced per minute.  

Monnot claims this acceleration could improve user experience by delivering fresher data and faster confirmations , with clear advantages for defi, such as smaller arbitrage windows, reduced trading fees, and increased liquidity.

“For proof markets, the work can be heavily parallelised, so a single logical prover could be obtaining subproofs from many other provers. Still, reducing the slot time means offering more opportunities per unit of time to compete for the right to provide the proof of a block,” he wrote.

The proposed network adjustment breaks the 6-second slot into three smaller sub-processes: 3 seconds for block proposals, 1.5 seconds for attestations, and 1.5 seconds for aggregation. It would preserve the total slot functionality while increasing throughput at the protocol layer.

The Ether developer reiterated that the change would not affect the total issuance to validators. Instead, stakers would receive smaller but more frequent rewards due to a lower reward variance and reduced incentives for staking pools. He added that it will favor solo stakers or home operators struggling with unpredictable returns in the current system.

Trade-offs and technical bumps

Monnot mentioned that shorter slot times will force developers to implement conditional logic within Ethereum clients and related infrastructure for backward compatibility. 

Since the network has run on 12-second slot times since its transition to Proof-of-Stake, it must replay older blocks with consistent timing. Some may need to shift from tracking in seconds to milliseconds, as was done on the Gnosis chain.

“Some clients begin constructing blocks right at the start of a slot. With only three seconds for the proposal phase, any latency could eat into production time,” he explained. 

Still, Monnot noted that the relative share of block production time within a slot actually increases, from 4 out of 12 seconds currently, to 3 out of 6 seconds under the new model.

Scaling versus speed and preconfirmations

Ethereum’s development community is debating the merits of increasing Layer 1 throughput against optimizing finality speeds. Monnot admitted that shorter slots do not scale gas throughput directly but can improve the responsiveness of the chain. He also cited evidence of users’ preference for faster confirmations over more scalable block sizes.

Preconfirmation mechanisms, solutions of a faster provisional confirmation outside the core protocol, are an option, but Monnot claimed developers prefer in-protocol changes like EIP-7782. 

One of the more complex tasks in executing the proposal involves updating client software and infrastructure tools like block explorers. These tools must accommodate both the old 12-second and the new 6-second slot durations. Developers will need to ensure that clients apply the correct logic depending on whether they’re processing historical or new blocks. At the time of publication, full scoping for these changes had not been completed.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now