Definition ∞ A block gas limit is the maximum amount of computational effort a blockchain block can contain. This parameter on platforms like Ethereum restricts the total gas consumed by all transactions within a single block, directly influencing block size and processing capacity. It serves as a fundamental mechanism to prevent network congestion and denial-of-service attacks by capping the computational resources any block can demand. Adjustments to this limit require network consensus among participants.
Context ∞ Discussions surrounding the block gas limit frequently concern network scalability and transaction fees. Increasing the limit can permit more transactions per block, potentially lowering individual costs but also raising hardware requirements for nodes. The debate weighs transaction throughput improvements against the risk of reduced network decentralization due to higher operational demands.
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