Increase calldata cost

Abstract

An adjustment in the Ethereum calldata cost which reduces the maximum possible block size and allows a higher block gas limit.

Motivation

Larger blocks take longer to propagate through the network. In this way, the maximium potential block size is constraining the block gas limit. Therefore, in order to safely increase the block gas limit, the calldata gas must be increased.

Specification

• Increase G_CALLDATAZERO from 4 to 12.
• Increase G_CALLDATANONZERO from 16 to 48.

Rationale

Tripling the gas cost of calldata reduces the maximimum possible block size by a factor of three.

Backwards Compatibility

Activation can cause some transactions to revert due to the increased gas costs. Ahead of activation, eth_estimateGas could be calculated using the new parameters in order to provide results viable for activation, avoiding out-of-gas reverts.

Security Considerations

No security issues have been found.

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.