Points of Focus

• PeerDAS boosts Ethereum’s data availability but doesn’t directly enable 10,000 TPS on L1.
• Ethereum’s roadmap targets 10,000 TPS on L1 and 10 million TPS on L2s.
• Higher L1 throughput may pressure weaker L2s, while specialized rollups remain relevant.

The world’s supercomputer, Ethereum, has long been an entry point into layer-2 (L2) networks via rollups and similar methods of movement. Now, Ethereum researchers are discussing a long-term path toward 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) on L1.

If Ethereum itself can offer the main benefit of most L2s, which will still justify their existence? And how could Ethereum even provide such a coveted rate?

The short answer: L2s will still exist, even as the networking change, Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), works to improve Ethereum’s data availability. As for 10,000 TPS on L1, the answer is a lot more complex.

The PeerDAS Approach

Introduced on January 12, 2024, Ethereum Improvement Proposal 7594 (EIP-7594) proposed PeerDAS to help Ethereum handle more rollup data. 

PeerDAS aims to address one of rollups’ main issues: L1 data availability, by modifying how nodes check blob data availability. 

Rollups execute transactions away from base Ethereum, only to publish the data back on the main chain so others can verify the rollup’s state. Similar to how an L2 functions, this design keeps Ethereum as the main layer for security and settlement, but rollups still need enough room on Ethereum to publish the data that makes verification possible. 

Blobs help with this process. A blob is a temporary chunk of data that rollups can post to Ethereum through a transaction type introduced by EIP-4844. Rollups use blobs because they are cheaper than posting the same information through normal Ethereum transaction data.

Ethereum does not store blob data forever, and smart contracts cannot read it directly. Ethereum only needs to keep the data available long enough for others to check that the rollup posted what it needed to.

PeerDAS improves this setup by changing what nodes must download. Under EIP-4844, consensus nodes fully download blob data, even if they can delete it later. This improved the rollup process, but it also created a limit: if every node must download every blob in full, adding more rollup data puts bandwidth pressure on the network.

EIP-7594 changes the model by letting nodes perform data availability sampling. Rather than downloading every blob in full, nodes download smaller pieces of the data and use sampling to check that the full data has been made available. The EIP states that this helps scale data availability for rollups without requiring all nodes to download all data.

The 10,000 TPS Claim

One must carefully consider the 10,000 TPS claim. PeerDAS helps Ethereum move toward higher throughput, but it does not deliver 10,000 TPS on L1 by itself.

That number is more of a long-term claim, pulled from Ethereum’s scaling roadmap. In July 2025, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake described a long-term “beast mode” target of 1 gigagas per second on L1, which roughly translates to 10,000 TPS. Drake then describes 1 teragas per second on L2, or roughly 10 million TPS.

The roadmap has three separate parts:

• PeerDAS helps Ethereum handle more rollup data by changing how nodes check blob data availability.
• The 10,000 TPS L1 target depends on execution-layer improvements, including zkVM progress, real-time proving, and further changes to how Ethereum handles blockspace.
• The 10 million TPS L2 target assumes rollups remain central to Ethereum’s highest-throughput future.

Data availability sampling helps rollups publish data more efficiently, while L1 TPS depends more on how Ethereum executes and verifies transactions. 

The Ethereum Foundation’s February 2026 Protocol Priorities Update sheds more light on the subject. Fusaka brought PeerDAS to the mainnet, allowing validators to sample blob data instead of downloading it in full. That change reduces bandwidth requirements and theoretically ensures an 8x increase in blob capacity. Two Blob Parameter Only forks also shipped alongside Fusaka, beginning the ramp from six blobs per block toward a higher number. 

Essentially, PeerDAS handles the roadmap’s data side. The 10,000 TPS L1 target depends on execution-layer changes.

Will L2s Remain Relevant?

So if Ethereum does follow through on its plan to deliver 10,000 TPS on L1, where do L2s fit into the vision?

Well, Ethereum needs more than just a higher TPS. It needs different places for different types of execution. No matter its speed, some users and developers will view Ethereum L1 as a security, settlement, and liquidity layer. L2s provide cheaper execution environments, a faster user experience, and room to specialize.

In terms of specialization, L2s can remain useful because they can optimize for different needs:

• Gaming networks can prioritize frequent, low-cost transactions and predictable fees.
• DeFi rollups can prioritize liquidity, sequencing, and composability.
• Payment-focused L2s can optimize for speed and simple user experience.
• Institutional or app-specific chains can build around compliance, permissions, or predictable execution.

Ethereum’s L1 cannot prioritize every use case at once without becoming harder to scale and govern. L2s give the ecosystem room to specialize while still using Ethereum as a settlement and security layer.

Current data shows how important rollups already are. As of June 1, 2026, L2BEAT shows: 

These figures change all the time, but the money shows that rollups are a core part of Ethereum’s infrastructure, regardless of L1’s improvements.

All this to say, PeerDAS will likely be more useful to L2s than threatening because it improves the Ethereum resource they rely on most: data availability. Transaction fees may fall, and rollups may be able to support more activity while continuing to publish the data they need on Ethereum.

But this is all in theory, of course.

The Counterargument

There is still a serious counterargument. If base Ethereum becomes much faster and cheaper, some activity could still move to the mainnet.

The movement would make sense in certain areas. DeFi protocols benefit from shared liquidity, for one, and developers may prefer the mainnet if it offers enough speed without the fragmentation of cross-chain movement.

A faster L1 would pressure weaker L2s in three main areas:

• Liquidity: DeFi protocols may prefer mainnet if lower fees make shared liquidity easier to access.
• User experience: Users may avoid bridges if mainnet becomes cheap enough for routine activity.
• Differentiation: Rollups that only compete on lower fees may struggle if Ethereum closes part of that gap.

But perhaps most notable is that a faster L1 would expose the weaker L2s. Some rollups have limited liquidity, centralized upgrade paths, and weak ecosystems. If an L2’s main value peaks at “cheaper than Ethereum,” weaknesses will show. 

But that outcome would not erase the L2 market like some may fear. Instead, it will force the L2s to prove their worth. Existing L2s will compete on use case, developer tools, compliance, and more as the market evolves. Such speculations are important, as Ethereum cannot prioritize every use case at once. 

The Likely Outcome

PeerDAS improves Ethereum’s data availability by making rollup data easier to verify at scale. Ethereum’s scaling roadmap continues to rely on a layered architecture, with long-term targets of 10,000 TPS on L1 and 10 million TPS on L2s. 

As Ethereum expands throughput, L2 networks will continue to compete on factors such as liquidity, specialization, security, and ecosystem adoption rather than low fees alone.