Ethereum Foundation researchers have said the growing on-chain state could strain node operators. The Ethereum state holds balances, contract storage, and application code, and it grows as applications and users add data.
Researchers have warned that rising state sizes could push full node operation toward a smaller set of sophisticated operators. Consequently, costs and performance constraints could affect decentralization and censorship resistance.
The Ethereum Foundation has presented three ways to limit the impact of state growth on node operators. The first option is state expiry. This moves inactive data out of the active set, while allowing users to recover it later by providing the appropriate proofs.
Another approach is state archiving. This separates frequently used “hot” data from older “cold” historical records, helping nodes maintain steady performance even as the total state expands. The third option is partial statelessness. It allows nodes to store only parts of the state. Through this setup, wallets and light clients can cache what they need for specific actions.
Developers plan to test these ideas while Ethereum continues to scale. The work also aligns with 2026 priorities, including improving execution efficiency, raising gas limits, and tightening transaction inclusion rules to strengthen the network.
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