Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has put forward a new proposal, EIP-7706, which focuses on a fresh gas model for transaction call data on the Ethereum platform. Currently, Ethereum-based transactions incur two types of gas fees: one for transaction execution and another for storage. Buterin’s EIP-7706 introduces a third form of gas exclusively for call data. This means that the Ethereum blockchain will assign a distinct charge to data transferred during transactions, separate from the costs associated with executing contract code or storing data. The new gas model will introduce a transaction type that offers max_basefee and priority_fee as a vector, providing values for execution gas, blob gas, and call data gas.
Currently, the base fee adjustment employs separate mechanisms for the transaction execution cost and data storage in the form of blobs. However, Buterin suggests that with the introduction of a third type of gas fee, the Ethereum network should adopt a unified approach for all three types of gas fees. The goal of this change is to reduce the transaction costs associated with data-heavy transactions that may not be computationally intensive. If the proposal is accepted, the Ethereum network will be responsible for determining the call data costs independently of other costs. Buterin proposes managing all three forms of gas through a dynamic model that modifies fees simultaneously.
By implementing a distinct gas fee for call data, Buterin believes that the “theoretical max call data size of a block would be greatly reduced, while basic economic analysis suggests that on average, call data would become considerably cheaper.” Despite the primary aim of moving from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake being scalability and lower costs, the Ethereum network has been struggling with gas fee issues for years. However, the changes implemented so far have not delivered the promised improvements in scalability. Buterin hopes that the proposed EIPs, including EIP-7706, will address these challenges.