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Ethereum has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in its scalability journey, reaching a record 24,192 transactions per second (TPS). The surge was largely driven by the Layer 2 scaling platform Lighter, whose high-speed transaction processing has significantly boosted the network’s overall throughput.
According to data from Growthepie, Ethereum hit this record within the last 24 hours — the highest ever recorded for the ecosystem. This figure includes activity from Lighter, a newly launched decentralized perpetual futures platform that has quickly become one of Ethereum’s fastest-growing Layer 2 solutions.
Ethereum supporters, often called “ETH maxis,” have celebrated the achievement, highlighting it as proof that Ethereum’s scaling roadmap is progressing successfully.
Lighter Outpaces Base and Other Layer 2 Networks
Since its launch in October, Lighter has rapidly emerged as a powerhouse in Ethereum’s scaling landscape. The network currently processes around 4,000 transactions per second, far surpassing Coinbase’s Base Chain, which averages between 100 and 200 TPS.
This performance has positioned Lighter as one of the most efficient Ethereum scaling solutions available, utilizing zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) to deliver faster and cheaper transactions while maintaining decentralization.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and several prominent community figures celebrated the milestone online. “Ethereum is scaling,” Buterin posted on X, as the network reached its new TPS record.
Bankless podcast host Ryan Sean Adams also praised the achievement, noting that Layer 2s have now added a “200x scaling factor to Ethereum.” He predicted that Ethereum could soon achieve 100,000 TPS and eventually 1 million TPS as zero-knowledge technology continues to advance.
The Role of Ethereum Upgrades: Dencun and Pectra
Ethereum’s recent network upgrades — Dencun and Pectra — have been instrumental in improving scalability across Layer 2 networks. These updates introduced key optimizations that reduce data costs and improve transaction throughput, paving the way for projects like Lighter to reach such high speeds.
The Dencun upgrade, deployed earlier in 2025, introduced “proto-danksharding,” which lowered transaction costs for rollups and Layer 2s. Meanwhile, the Pectra upgrade improved overall network efficiency, enabling higher data compression and faster block propagation.
Together, these upgrades have transformed Ethereum’s scalability landscape, making it more competitive with high-speed blockchains such as Solana and Avalanche.
Lighter’s Speed Comes with Growing Pains
Despite its impressive performance, Lighter has faced multiple network outages since its debut on October 1. These disruptions have drawn comparisons to Solana’s early stability struggles, raising questions about whether the network can sustain its rapid growth without sacrificing reliability.
One of the most notable incidents occurred on October 28, when the network suffered a major outage that halted operations temporarily. The Lighter team later compensated approximately 3,900 affected wallets with $774,872 in USDC as reimbursement for the disruption.
While such setbacks highlight the challenges of scaling quickly, the project’s transparent response and compensation efforts have been praised by users as a sign of accountability.
The Value Accrual Debate: Who Benefits from Layer 2 Scaling?
As Ethereum Layer 2 networks continue to thrive, some analysts are questioning how much value actually flows back to the Ethereum mainnet and its native token, Ether (ETH).
Rezso Schmiedt, founding partner at ₿RRR Capital, raised a critical point: “Yes, more transactions. But where’s the value accrual? L2s capture fees, not ETH.”
This concern reflects a broader discussion about Ethereum’s evolving ecosystem. While Layer 2s are crucial for improving scalability, they also capture much of the transaction fee revenue, potentially diluting Ethereum’s dominance as a Layer 1 settlement layer.
To address this, experts suggest aligning incentives through fee sharing, MEV (maximal extractable value) redistribution, and protocol-level integrations that ensure value generated on L2s flows back to ETH holders and validators.
Ethereum’s Scaling Future Looks Promising
Despite the debates and technical hiccups, Ethereum’s latest record marks a major leap forward for blockchain scalability. The success of Lighter demonstrates that Layer 2 solutions are no longer theoretical — they’re delivering tangible results in real-world performance.
As zero-knowledge technology matures and more applications migrate to Layer 2, Ethereum could soon process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second — all while maintaining the security and decentralization of its base layer.
With the ecosystem pushing toward mass adoption, Ethereum’s path to scalability seems clearer than ever. Whether through Layer 2 rollups like Lighter or future sharding innovations, the network’s ongoing evolution continues to set new benchmarks for the blockchain industry.
