Ethereum Privacy Push Hit by Computational Cost Hurdle

A proposal to enhance Ethereum's privacy features has hit a roadblock due to a computational cost issue. The proposal, submitted by AnkushinDaniil on September 5, aims to allow some Ethereum nodes to accept and propagate qualifying transactions that exceed the shared validation allowance.

However, a recent benchmark by mmjahanara found that the proof verification process for certain privacy designs requires nearly twice the proposed gas allowance of 100,000. The optimized Groth16 proof verifier needs 190,628 gas, with the cryptographic pairing check alone accounting for 181,000 gas.

The current EIP-8141 draft caps signature checks and execution in the initial validation phase through payment approval at 100,000 gas. This limit is intended to contain node workload and denial-of-service exposure.

mmjahanara recommends increasing the allowance to at least 250,000 gas for typical optimized transactions. However, this recommendation has not been adopted, leaving the proposal under review.