Ethereum Core Developers Postpone Glamsterdam Upgrade on Hoodi Testnet Indefinitely

The highly anticipated Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet, which had been officially scheduled to take place on October 26, 2026, has been officially postponed. Core developers made the decision to delay the network upgrade—previously locked in for epoch 132,352 at precisely 17:42:48 UTC—to allow for a more comprehensive and careful investigation into how Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037 interacts with existing smart contracts deployed on the mainnet. At this time, a new activation date and epoch have not yet been established.

This sudden scheduling change completely supersedes all prior activation schedules and configuration instructions that were originally published in the initial Hoodi testnet announcement. Developers, node operators, and ecosystem participants who had structured their testing pipelines around the late October timeline must now pivot and adjust their preparations accordingly.

What Has Changed in the Upgrade Path?

The decision to hit the pause button on the Hoodi testnet deployment was reached by core developers during All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) meeting #248. The primary catalyst for the delay centers on EIP-8037. Engineers and researchers expressed a collective desire to spend more time analyzing the precise technical implications and potential edge-case interactions that EIP-8037 might introduce when executed alongside complex smart contracts already operating on the Ethereum mainnet.

By pulling back the scheduled activation, developers have effectively removed several key components from the immediate near-term roadmap for the testnet. Most notably, the delay strips out the scheduled Amsterdam execution layer activation and the corresponding Gloas consensus layer activation. In addition, the modification removes a specific gas-limit schedule that was set to go live simultaneously with the upgrade, which would have elevated Hoodi’s existing gas limit up to a staggering 200 million at the target epoch.

It is important to note for network operators and developers that this maneuver merely rolls back the configuration settings for a future upgrade cycle. It does not in any way revert or alter the existing chain history of the Hoodi testnet. The October 26 activation date is completely off the table, and the updated network configuration currently contains no replacement activation epoch or timestamp. The eventual rescheduling of the Glamsterdam upgrade will be formally discussed and announced by core development teams at a later date once technical reviews are concluded.

Hoodi Node and Validator Operators Must Update Configurations

The postponement places an immediate operational requirement on anyone who currently operates a Hoodi node or a validator. Individuals and organizations running infrastructure on the network must carefully inspect both their execution layer and consensus layer clients to ensure their software instructions reflect the postponed activation well before the original October 26 target date arrives.

Any software versions, custom network configurations, or automated deployment scripts that still retain the Glamsterdam upgrade scheduled at the previous activation time must be promptly updated and synchronized to match the newly revised Hoodi configuration parameters. Operating with outdated configurations could lead to unintended network forks or consensus discrepancies when the testnet passes what would have been the original activation point.

Furthermore, operators are strongly cautioned against treating the client release tables found in earlier, preliminary announcements as absolute confirmation that those specific software versions incorporate this latest postponement. Instead, infrastructure runners are advised to closely monitor their respective client team release notes, communication channels, and official instructions regarding the revised Hoodi schedule. Validator operators are likewise urged to review any specific operational instructions pertaining to their underlying validator client software and external block-building infrastructure to ensure complete alignment.

Status of Client Releases and Ecosystem Guidance

As client engineering teams work to adapt their software to the postponed activation, new client releases incorporating the updated Hoodi configuration are being prepared. Node operators are advised to update both their execution layer and consensus layer clients exclusively to software versions whose official release notes explicitly confirm that the October 26 Glamsterdam activation on the Hoodi testnet has been successfully removed or disabled.

Within the consensus layer ecosystem, various teams are providing updated builds for validator and beacon node operations. For instance, Lodestar has released version v1.50.1 to address the scheduling changes. Other consensus client teams, along with execution layer client developers, are continuing to finalize their respective builds. Comprehensive guidance regarding builder and validator tooling for the postponed activation is being coordinated, and operators relying on external block-building infrastructure should stay closely aligned with their chosen tooling providers for specific instructions.

Implications for Application Developers and Mainnet Users

Application developers who had planned their testing milestones around the October 26 Hoodi deployment of Glamsterdam must now revise their timelines. Testing schedules should no longer assume the original activation window, and developers should wait for the core development community to announce a replacement activation schedule.

It is also vital to emphasize that this announcement applies strictly and exclusively to the Hoodi testnet environment. This decision does not set, imply, or modify a Glamsterdam activation date for the Ethereum mainnet. Consequently, regular Ethereum mainnet users, decentralized application users, and ordinary ETH token holders are not required to take any action or make any operational adjustments as a result of this development update.