Ethereum developers debate EIP-8037 as state size and data costs climb

Ethereum developers are debating how to address the network's fast-growing "state" and the long-term cost of storing permanent data, with EIP-8037 proposed as a deterrent via higher upfront gas for new contracts and storage. The state is described at about 390 GiB, while one estimate says a 100 million gas limit would add roughly 553 MiB per day (about 197 GiB per year), potentially pushing Ethereum toward a 650 GiB "danger zone" in under 1.6 years. Vitalik Buterin rejected a near-term idea to store only hashes on-chain, saying proofs still require data that ends up close to the state's size.