Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has introduced a new Ethereum Improvement Protocol (EIP-7706) focused on revising the gas model for transaction call data.
Currently, Ethereum transactions incur two types of gas fees: one for transaction execution, covering computational efforts, and another for storage, related to storing data in "blobs."
Buterin's EIP-7706 proposes a third form of gas specifically for call data, which is the essential data transmitted to smart contracts within Ethereum transactions.
Under this proposal, Ethereum will introduce a distinct charge for data transferred during transactions, separate from the costs associated with executing contract code or storing data.
This new gas model will introduce a transaction type providing max_basefee and priority_fee as a vector, offering values for execution gas, blob gas, and call data gas.
Currently, base fee adjustments use separate mechanisms for transaction execution costs and data storage. However, Buterin suggests adopting a unified approach for all three types of gas fees.
The goal is to reduce transaction costs for data-heavy transactions that may not be computationally intensive. If accepted, the proposal would enable the Ethereum network to determine call data costs independently.
Buterin recommends managing all three gas forms through a dynamic model that adjusts fees simultaneously.
By implementing a separate gas fee for call data, Buterin anticipates a significant reduction in the theoretical maximum call data size per block. This, coupled with economic analysis, suggests that call data could become notably cheaper on average.
Despite Ethereum's ongoing struggle with gas fee issues, transitioning from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism hasn't fully addressed scalability concerns. However, subsequent EIPs aim to alleviate network challenges.
May 2024, Cryptoniteuae