Ethereum Breaks 24K TPS Barrier After Lighter Upgrade Sparks 200x Boom
Ethereum has smashed its all-time high for network throughput, hitting 24,192 transactions per second—a milestone that owes...
Quick overview
- Ethereum has achieved a record throughput of 24,192 transactions per second, largely due to the growth of its Layer 2 network, Lighter.
- The integration of Lighter, a decentralized perpetual futures platform, has significantly improved Ethereum's scaling capabilities.
- Experts attribute Ethereum's scaling success to Layer 2 technologies, particularly zero-knowledge proofs, which enhance transaction verification speed.
- Despite some operational challenges, the future of Ethereum's Layer 2 networks is seen as crucial for its continued growth and efficiency.
Ethereum has smashed its all-time high for network throughput, hitting 24,192 transactions per second—a milestone that owes much to the incredible growth of its Layer 2 network, Lighter. Growthpie numbers show that Ethereum’s aggregate TPS briefly broke all previous records over the last 24 hours, a real testament to the speed at which the blockchain is scaling up.
This leap came about thanks to the integration of Lighter, a decentralized perpetual futures platform that has been operational since October. The network’s architecture has made it clear that Ethereum’s scaling is now much better than it used to be.
- Lighter TPS: 4,000 transactions per second
- Base Chain TPS: 100 – 200 transactions per second
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin took to X to crow about the achievement, simply saying, “Ethereum is scaling,” even though the network kept on truckin’ and pumping out those high TPS in the hours that followed.
Layer 2s are Delivering a 200x Scaling Boost
Experts say Ethereum’s scaling renaissance is largely due to clever new technologies used in Layer 2s, networks that handle transactions off the mainchain and then settle them on Ethereum’s main network.
Ryan Sean Adams, the host of the Bankless podcast, said, “L2s are now adding a 200x scaling factor to Ethereum.” He says it’s down to zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, a fancy cryptographic technique that speeds up and makes private transaction verification possible.
Ethereum’s recent Dencun & Pectra upgrades have also made it easier for L2s to take off, and with them have come lower fees too. Analysts think that these updates have set the stage for some exponential growth.
Adams thinks the “big ZK unlock” is just getting started and that Ethereum could soon reach 100,000 TPS — and, who knows, maybe even 1 million TPS — as L2s become more mature.
Lighter’s Rapid Rise and Gruelling Growing Pains
Lighter’s done incredibly well in terms of transaction throughput—it even outperformed Solana—but since its October launch, the network has been plagued by a few outages.
One of these, on October 28th, forced the team to give away almost 4,000 wallets and almost $774,000 in USDC—that just goes to show how big the network is and how quickly things can go wrong when you’re growing as fast as Lighter is.
Still, most Ethereum fans think L2s are essential to the network’s future. Some critics think that L2s could weaken Ethereum’s Layer 1 dominance, potentially affecting key metrics such as DEX volume & fees.
Industry leaders say that for L2s to be truly successful, you need to ensure there are incentives—such as fee sharing, MEV capture, and protocol-level integrations—to keep people working with the network sustainably.
As Ethereum’s scaling revolution continues to accelerate and improve, one thing is for sure: the competition to build a faster, more efficient blockchain ecosystem is only just getting started.
- Check out our free forex signals
- Follow the top economic events on FX Leaders economic calendar
- Trade better, discover more Forex Trading Strategies
- Open a FREE Trading Account
Save