What Is Ethereum's Glamsterdam Upgrade? ePBS, Parallel Execution and a 200M Gas Limit Explained as It Goes Live on Testnet

Glamsterdam, the next hard fork for Ethereum (ETH), activated on the Sepolia testnet on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at 13:53:36 UTC. Dates for the Hoodi testnet and mainnet have not been decided, though mainnet is currently expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Its two headline changes are enshrined proposer-builder separation (EIP-7732), which brings block building into the protocol, and block-level access lists (EIP-7928), which let nodes process transactions in parallel.

In total, 18 EIPs are scheduled, including a gas repricing that makes creating and accessing state more expensive. The Ethereum Foundation warns that contracts relying on fixed gas stipends or hardcoded gas limits may need changes.

Sepolia's gas limit was set to jump from about 60 million to 200 million at activation after the Prysm client shipped a last-minute fix. That setting applies only to Sepolia; on mainnet, 200 million is a target that would be reached gradually.

ETH holders do not need to do anything, and anyone asking you to "upgrade" your coins is a scammer. Next on the roadmap is Hegotá, which Vitalik Buterin expects to be Ethereum's "last relatively normal fork."

 

 

Glamsterdam is Ethereum's next network upgrade, combining Gloas on the consensus layer with Amsterdam on the execution layer. In the Ethereum Foundation's words, it "follows the Fusaka upgrade, advancing Ethereum's L1 scaling roadmap with enshrined proposer-builder separation, block-level access lists, and changes to gas pricing that better reflect the cost of execution and state growth." Where the Fusaka upgrade in December 2025 focused on data capacity for layer 2 rollups, Glamsterdam targets the base layer's own execution capacity.

 

Sepolia forked at 13:53:36 UTC on October 6, at epoch 353,024 and slot 11,296,768. The upgrade's official meta specification, EIP-7773, still lists the Hoodi testnet and mainnet as to be determined, and the Foundation says those dates "have not yet been decided." Developers usually schedule the next step only after a testnet runs cleanly, and while mainnet is currently expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, no date is confirmed.

 

Today, most Ethereum blocks are assembled by specialized builders and passed to validators through relays, trusted intermediaries that operate outside the protocol. EIP-7732 brings that relationship into Ethereum itself. As the Foundation describes it: "A proposer includes a builder's commitment to an execution payload, and the builder subsequently reveals that payload." The protocol handles payment to the proposer, and a timeliness committee checks that the payload and its blob data arrive on time. Separating consensus checks from execution checks gives validators more time to verify each block, which is what makes larger blocks realistic.

 

EIP-7928 requires each block to carry an enforced list of the accounts and storage locations it touches, together with the resulting state changes. Knowing in advance which parts of Ethereum's state a block reads and writes lets clients load data in parallel and validate independent transactions at the same time, rather than processing everything one after another. Combined with ePBS, it is the change that most directly raises how much computation each block can safely carry.

 

Glamsterdam also rewrites part of Ethereum's gas fee schedule. EIP-8037 raises the cost of creating new state, EIP-8038 updates the cost of accessing it, EIP-7976 and EIP-7981 raise the floor cost of calldata and the cost of access lists, and EIP-2780 replaces the flat 21,000 gas charge on every transaction with a breakdown of the resources each one uses. The goal is to price operations by the burden they place on nodes, so capacity can grow without runaway state growth. The Foundation's warning is direct: "Contracts that rely on fixed gas stipends, hardcoded gas limits, or assumptions about remaining gas may need changes."

The other changes are smaller but useful. Native ETH transfers will emit a log (EIP-7708), making them as easy to track as token transfers for wallets, exchanges and explorers. The maximum contract size rises (EIP-7954), new stack instructions arrive (EIP-8024), a SLOTNUM opcode exposes the current slot (EIP-7843), slashed validators can no longer propose blocks (EIP-8045), and higher exit and consolidation churn limits (EIP-8061) let validators leave or merge faster.

 

The most closely watched part of the Sepolia launch is capacity. The testnet's gas limit, which caps how much computation fits in each block, was scheduled to rise from about 60 million to 200 million at activation. The test nearly fell short: Prysm's previous release kept validators at 60 million, which CoinDesk said would have undermined the capacity test, so the team shipped version 7.2.1 late on Monday to raise the limit to 200 million automatically at the fork.

The aim, as CoinDesk put it, is to see "whether validators can consistently handle blocks more than three times Sepolia's previous default before developers decide how much of that capacity suits Ethereum itself." The 200 million setting applies only to Sepolia. On mainnet, where validators lifted the gas limit to 60 million in November 2025, 200 million is a design target that would be reached gradually through validator gas limit voting rather than switched on at the fork. More block space can eventually mean more room for trades and stablecoin transfers before users compete for space and push fees higher.

 

Glamsterdam may be one of the last upgrades that scales Ethereum by making today's architecture faster. Vitalik Buterin expects Hegotá, the fork planned after it, to be Ethereum's "last relatively normal fork" before recursive STARKs, stronger formal verification, a redesigned consensus layer and quantum-resistant cryptography become central, moving the network toward what he calls a "cryptographic world computer." That shift ties directly to Ethereum's 2029 quantum deadline.

 

No. Glamsterdam is live only on a testnet, and when it reaches mainnet, ETH balances, staked ETH and tokens carry over automatically. Anyone claiming you must upgrade, migrate or swap your ETH is running a scam. Sepolia node operators had to update both execution and consensus clients before activation, and smart contract developers should now test gas estimation and new opcodes on Sepolia.

 

Upgrades tend to draw attention to ETH around testnet and mainnet milestones, but they are not reliable price catalysts on their own, and macro forces dominate for now: ETH trades near $2,700 as of writing, and spot Ethereum ETFs recorded a third straight day of outflows on Monday. Traders can follow ETH/USDT on MEXC, treat a Hoodi activation date as the next signal that mainnet is approaching, and use stop-loss orders on MEXC Futures around volatile events such as today's FOMC minutes.

 

Disclaimer: This content is for educational and reference purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. Digital asset investments carry high risk. Please evaluate carefully and assume full responsibility for your own decisions.