Ethereum Institutional signals support for Ethlabs’ motion to reduce Ethereum block times

Ethereum Institutional announced its support for Ethlabs’ motion to reduce Ethereum block times, stating that a faster chain is needed as institutional activity increases on the network. The nonprofit made the endorsement in a public post on X and framed the change as a response to competitive pressure from other blockchains. Ethlabs earlier published an article that included quotations from 20 decentralized finance founders endorsing EIP-8198, commonly called "Quick Slots." EIP-8198 would initially shorten Ethereum's block time from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.

Ethlabs said it is merging the proposal’s specifications into the main codebase and examining potential downstream dependencies to help the change enter the scope of the Hegotá upgrade. EIP-8198 was authored in March and was proposed for inclusion in Hegotá at an Ethereum core developers meeting on Aug. 6. Developers have discussed bringing Hegotá into implementation after the Glamsterdam upgrade, with the possibility of work beginning in late 2026.

The push to shorten block or slot times is not unique to Ethereum. The report notes that a majority of Zcash token holders recently supported cutting that network’s target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Solana has also pursued faster slot times: in August it reduced slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds, and earlier in the year the Solana Foundation outlined plans to move toward 200-millisecond slots to improve latency and confirmations.

The Ethlabs initiative and Ethereum Institutional’s endorsement reflect a broader industry trend toward reducing latency and speeding confirmations, as multiple networks evaluate technical changes to meet growing user and institutional demands. Ethlabs’ work to integrate EIP-8198 into the Hegotá planning process indicates the proposal is being actively prepared for potential inclusion in Ethereum’s upgrade roadmap.