The non-profit organization Ethereum Institutional supported the proposal by Ethlabs to reduce Ethereum block formation time. The initiative suggests reducing the current interval from 12 to 10 seconds under EIP-8198, unofficially named Quick Slots. The organization believes that a shorter interval becomes relevant amid growing on-chain activity, including the use of blockchain by institutional participants. Ethlabs previously published material with comments from 20 founders of decentralized finance projects, who generally expressed support for the proposed change.
EIP-8198 was developed in March, and in August, the proposal for its inclusion in the Hegotá update was reviewed by the main Ethereum developers. Currently, Ethlabs is working on integrating the initiative's specifications with the main codebase and analyzing dependencies that may be required for subsequent update components. In this scenario, the implementation of Hegotá may begin after Glamsterdam, one of the major Ethereum updates planned as part of the network's further development. Its tasks include improving scalability and enhancing the security level of the main infrastructure. The specific implementation timelines depend on the progress of development and preparation of the corresponding changes.
Reducing block formation time is becoming a separate development direction for other blockchain networks as well. In August, Solana reduced the slot time from 400 to 350 milliseconds, previously presenting a plan for further reduction to 200 milliseconds. According to the Solana Foundation, the change should reduce latency and speed up transaction confirmation. A similar decision was recently discussed in Zcash: the majority of voting participants supported reducing the target block formation time from 75 to 25 seconds. Against this backdrop, the Quick Slots proposal is seen as part of a broader effort by various networks to improve transaction processing and confirmation speed.
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