Ethereum Developers Consider Faster Block Times Amid Institutional Onramp

Ethereum developers may soon make the network faster as non-profit organization Ethereum Institutional signaled support for Ethlabs' motion to reduce block times.

The proposal, known as EIP-8198 or 'Quick Slots', aims to initially decrease Ethereum's block times from 12 seconds to 10 seconds. This change is needed, according to Ethereum Institutional, as more institutional activity moves onchain.

Ethlabs published an article last Thursday quoting 20 decentralized finance (DeFi) founders showing broad support for the proposal. The organization plans to merge the proposal's specifications with the main codebase and investigate potential downstream dependencies to help it enter Hegotá's scope.

This is not the only blockchain network working on block time reduction initiatives. Zcash recently saw the majority of token holders back cutting its target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, while Solana reduced its slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350ms in August. The Solana Foundation also shared plans to reduce slot times from 400ms to 200ms to improve latency and accelerate confirmations on the blockchain network.