Ethereum Institutional Backs Push to Cut Block Times to 10 Seconds
The advocacy group endorsed Ethlabs' EIP-8198 proposal, citing growing onchain institutional activity, as rival networks race to shrink their own block intervals.
Illustration · generated, not a photograph
Ethereum Institutional, a non-profit advocacy group, has endorsed a proposal to shorten Ethereum's block times, arguing the network must speed up to retain users and keep pace with competing blockchains. The endorsement adds institutional weight to a technical debate now moving through Ethereum's core developer process.
"Make Ethereum faster," the organization wrote in a Friday post on X, adding that shorter block times are needed as "more institutional activity moves onchain."
The group was responding to a proposal known as EIP-8198, nicknamed "Quick Slots," which would reduce Ethereum's block time from 12 seconds to 10 seconds as a first step. Ethlabs, the development team behind the proposal, published an article on Thursday quoting 20 decentralized finance (DeFi) founders who broadly support the change. According to Cointelegraph, the article framed faster blocks as a competitive necessity for the network.
EIP-8198 was authored in March and put forward for inclusion in the upcoming Hegotá upgrade during an Ethereum core developers meeting on Aug. 6. Ethlabs said it is merging the proposal's specifications into the main codebase and examining potential downstream dependencies — other parts of the protocol that could be affected by the change — so that it can "meaningfully enter Hegotá's scope."
Rival networks move faster
Ethereum would not be the first major blockchain to shorten its block interval this year. On Monday, most Zcash token holders voted to cut that network's target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. In August, Solana reduced its slot time — the interval at which it produces blocks — from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds. Two months earlier, the Solana Foundation had announced plans to eventually bring the figure down to 200 milliseconds, saying the change would improve latency and speed up transaction confirmations.
If EIP-8198 is accepted, Hegotá could begin rolling out in late 2026, following Glamsterdam — an upgrade widely viewed as one of the year's most significant, aimed at improving scalability and strengthening the mainnet against attacks.
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