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Key Takeaways

Glamsterdam is the next major Ethereum upgrade, now expected in Q4 2026 after delays from the original June 2026 target. No mainnet date has been confirmed.

The upgrade focuses on three goals: parallel transaction processing, greater block capacity, and gas repricing to prevent database bloat.

Its key proposals are EIP-7732 (enshrined proposer-builder separation), EIP-7928 (block-level access lists), and EIP-8037 (gas repricing).

Glamsterdam activated on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, in an activation widely reported as successful.

Introduction

Glamsterdam is a major Ethereum upgrade that was originally targeted for June 2026, and was later moved to Q3 2026. As of October 2026, it is expected in Q4 2026, although a confirmed mainnet activation date has not been announced. The revised timeline reflects the need for additional testing and interoperability work across consensus and execution clients.

Glamsterdam builds on the progress of the Fusaka upgrade in December 2025, which introduced PeerDAS for improved data availability. Where Fusaka focused on foundational refinements, Glamsterdam aims to scale Ethereum’s base layer by reorganizing how the network creates and verifies blocks.

What Is the Glamsterdam Upgrade?

Glamsterdam is a combined execution-layer and consensus-layer upgrade. The name follows Ethereum’s convention of pairing a city name for the execution layer (“Amsterdam”) with a star name for the consensus layer (“Gloas”), combined into “Glamsterdam.”

The upgrade centers on three main goals. First, speeding up processing through parallelization, allowing the network to process many transactions simultaneously instead of one by one.

Second, expanding capacity by splitting block creation and verification duties to give the network more time to propagate larger amounts of data.

Third, preventing database bloat by adjusting fees to reflect the long-term hardware cost of storing new data, which unblocks future gas limit increases.

In short, Glamsterdam introduces structural changes to ensure the network can continue to perform well and sustainably while increasing capacity.

Key Proposals in Glamsterdam

Glamsterdam’s changes are defined through Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), the same process Ethereum uses for other protocol upgrades. The three headline proposals are covered below.

EIP-7732: Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS)

Currently, the relationship between block proposers and block builders is not part of Ethereum’s core protocol. It relies on trusted third-party middleware known as relays, most notably MEV-Boost, within the broader design of Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS).

This off-protocol arrangement creates a bottleneck: validators must rush through transaction broadcasting and execution in a tight 2-second window, limiting how much data the network can handle per block.

EIP-7732 formally separates the role of the proposer (who selects the consensus block) from the builder (who assembles the execution payload), enshrining this hand-off directly into the protocol. This removes the need for third-party middleware and introduces trustless builder payments built into the protocol itself.

To address the 2-second bottleneck, ePBS introduces a Payload Timeliness Committee (PTC) and a dual-deadline logic. Validators can attest to the consensus block and the execution payload separately, expanding the propagation window from 2 seconds to approximately 9 seconds. This extra time allows Ethereum to safely process much larger blocks without stressing the network.

ePBS also has implications for staking pools, which will need architectural updates to enable trustless monitoring. However, the overall staking experience may improve through a refined builder selection process.

EIP-7928: Block-Level Access Lists (BALs)

Today, Ethereum processes transactions sequentially. The network does not know what data a transaction will access or modify until the transaction runs, so validators must process transactions one by one to avoid conflicts. This creates a single-lane road where throughput is limited by the speed of serial execution.

Block-Level Access Lists (BALs) change this by providing an upfront map of all transaction dependencies. The execution layer stores a full block access list detailing every account the transactions will touch, along with the final results of those changes. The block header contains a compact fingerprint of this list.

With this map in place, validators can process non-conflicting transactions in parallel instead of sequentially. Nodes can also sync faster by reading the final results without replaying every transaction, a feature called executionless sync. BALs lay the groundwork for a significant increase in Layer 1 throughput.

EIP-8037: Gas Repricing

A higher gas limit only helps if the network can handle the resulting state growth without degrading performance. EIP-8037 introduces smarter pricing for data storage by raising the cost of state-creating operations. The goal is to make state expansion more expensive while keeping computation relatively cheaper.

EIP-8037 is paired with a related proposal, EIP-8038, which updates the costs of state-access operations. Together, they aim to align gas costs more closely with the resources node operators actually spend.

This repricing is designed to work alongside the 200 million gas target. Without it, a higher gas limit could lead to excessive state growth that makes running a node increasingly expensive. By aligning gas costs with the actual long-term hardware burden of storing new data, EIP-8037 ensures that capacity increases remain sustainable.

The 200 Million Gas Limit Target

The Ethereum Foundation has described a 200 million gas limit as a “credible post-Glamsterdam target” for the network. This would be a significant increase from the current gas limit of approximately 60 million. However, the Foundation has framed this as a capacity goal rather than a guaranteed setting on day one of the upgrade.

A 200 million gas limit was part of the Sepolia test that began on October 6, 2026, giving developers early data on how the network behaves at that scale. It has not been confirmed as a mainnet setting.

The gas limit determines how much computation can fit in a single block. Raising it means more transactions and smart contract operations can be processed per block, but it also means blocks become larger and more resource-intensive to validate. Glamsterdam’s combination of ePBS, BALs, and gas repricing is designed to make this increase safe and sustainable.

Timeline and Current Status

As mentioned, the original target for Glamsterdam was June 2026. The upgrade was later moved to Q3 2026, and is now expected in Q4 2026. No confirmed mainnet activation date has been announced.

Testing has progressed through several stages. Devnets for the upgrade ran through 2025 and 2026, with interoperability testing at developer events, including one in Svalbard, Norway. The first public testnet activation took place on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, and was widely reported as successful. Developers shipped a last-minute update to the Prysm client shortly before activation to keep the test on schedule.

Next, testing is expected to move to the Hoodi testnet before a mainnet activation date is decided. The main risk to the timeline remains further delay if testing exposes additional issues, particularly around ePBS implementation and cross-client consistency.

What Comes After Glamsterdam?

The next major upgrade after Glamsterdam is called Hegotá, expected in Q2 2027. Its scheduled scope currently centers on two features: FOCIL (EIP-7805), which strengthens safeguards against transaction censorship, and frame transactions (EIP-8141).

EIP-8141, known as Frame Transactions, would introduce native account abstraction by making transaction verification programmable, allowing users to choose post-quantum signature schemes instead of being locked to ECDSA. In August 2026, developers moved EIP-8141 from Considered for Inclusion to Scheduled for Inclusion in Hegotá, although its specification remains a draft and details can still change before activation.

Earlier roadmap discussions tied Hegotá to Verkle Trees, but the currently scheduled scope focuses on FOCIL and frame transactions. Statelessness work continues under Ethereum’s broader lean Ethereum roadmap rather than as a confirmed Hegotá feature.

Beyond Hegotá, the Foundation is advancing the Strawmap, its long-term quantum-resistant roadmap. This work includes hash-based signatures (leanXMSS), a minimal zkVM (leanVM) for compressing quantum-safe signatures, and weekly interop testing across more than 10 client teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the Glamsterdam upgrade activate?

Glamsterdam is expected in Q4 2026, but no confirmed mainnet activation date has been announced. The upgrade activated on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, and testing is expected to continue on the Hoodi testnet before a mainnet date is set.

What is enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS)?

The ePBS (EIP-7732) moves the relationship between block proposers and block builders into Ethereum’s core protocol, removing the need for third-party relay middleware like MEV-Boost.

It introduces a Payload Timeliness Committee and dual-deadline logic that expands the block propagation window from 2 seconds to approximately 9 seconds, allowing the network to handle larger blocks.

What are block-level access lists (BALs)?

BALs (EIP-7928) provide an upfront map of all transaction dependencies within a block. By telling validators which accounts each transaction will touch before execution begins, BALs enable parallel processing of non-conflicting transactions and faster node syncing through executionless sync.

Will Glamsterdam reduce gas fees?

Glamsterdam’s primary goal is to increase network capacity and throughput, not to reduce gas fees directly. By raising the gas limit target and enabling parallel execution, more transactions can fit in each block, which could help reduce congestion-related fee spikes.

However, EIP-8037 also raises costs for state-creating operations to prevent database bloat, so some operations may become more expensive.

What is the difference between Glamsterdam and Fusaka?

Fusaka, activated in December 2025, introduced PeerDAS for improved data availability and increased blob parameters for Layer 2 rollups. Glamsterdam builds on this foundation by focusing on Layer 1 scaling through ePBS, block-level access lists, and gas repricing. Where Fusaka primarily benefited Layer 2 rollups, Glamsterdam targets the base layer directly.

What comes after Glamsterdam?

Hegotá is expected to follow in Q2 2027, with FOCIL (EIP-7805) and frame transactions (EIP-8141) as its scheduled features. Longer-term, the Foundation’s Strawmap roadmap points toward quantum-resistant signature technology.

Closing Thoughts

Glamsterdam is an important step in Ethereum’s scaling roadmap. The upgrade aims to prepare Ethereum for substantially higher throughput without sacrificing decentralization or node accessibility.

Key changes include enshrining proposer-builder separation, introducing parallel transaction processing through block-level access lists, and repricing gas to manage state growth.

With the Sepolia testnet activation completed in October 2026, Glamsterdam has passed its first public test, and a mainnet activation window in Q4 2026 is the current expectation. As with any network upgrade, timing and scope can change, so following official Ethereum announcements remains the best way to stay up to date.

Further Reading

What Is Ethereum and How Does It Work?

Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade: All You Need to Know

How Do Gas Fees Work on Ethereum?

What Is an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)?

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