Ethereum Developer Proposes 6-Second Block Times to Boost Speed, Slash Fees

Ethereum could soon run twice as fast.

That’s according to a new proposal floated by core developer Barnabé Monnot to reduce the network’s slot time from 12 seconds to 6 seconds, effectively doubling the number of blocks produced per minute.

The idea, part of EIP-7782, could be included in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade slated for 2026. Proposals or publicly discussed ideas are commonplace in the blockchain world, and may not necessarily move to testing.

If implemented, the proposal would reduce time across three key consensus steps: block proposals (3 seconds), attestations (1.5 seconds), and aggregation (1.5 seconds). That would shave 6 seconds off the current 12-second cycle.

Faster blocks mean quicker confirmations, fresher onchain veri for wallets and apps, and a more seamless experience for users. For the booming decentralized finance (DeFi) economy, that could translate to tighter arbitrage windows, lower trading fees, and higher liquidity — all of which improve market efficiency.

However, not everyone may benefit. Slower validators could struggle to keep up with tighter deadlines, bandwidth requirements could increase, and poorly tested changes could risk network instability.

The Glamsterdam hard fork is currently in the early planning stages, with a broader focus on gas optimizations and protocol efficiency.