Core developers working on the Ethereum network have officially announced the postponement of the highly anticipated Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet. The network event, which was originally scheduled to take place on October 26, 2026, at precisely 17:42:48 UTC during epoch 132,352, has been put on hold while engineers and researchers conduct deeper investigations into specific protocol behaviors. As a result of this decision, no new activation date has been set by the development community.
This unexpected change completely supersedes the previous schedule and the activation instructions that were originally outlined in the initial Hoodi testnet announcement published earlier in October. The decision to hit the pause button was finalized during All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #248. During the meeting, technical contributors agreed that more time is needed to closely evaluate how EIP-8037 interacts with existing smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum mainnet, ensuring that no unforeseen compatibility issues or security vulnerabilities arise once the upgrade eventually moves forward.
What Has Changed?
The decision to delay the upgrade brings several notable modifications to the immediate roadmap for the Hoodi testnet environment. Most prominently, the delay removes the scheduled Amsterdam execution layer activation and the Gloas consensus layer activation that were tied to the October timestamp. Furthermore, the adjustment eliminates the planned gas-limit schedule that would have temporarily raised the Hoodi network’s gas limit to 200 million at the exact same epoch.
Despite these alterations, developers emphasize that this maneuver simply rolls back the configuration settings for a future upgrade rather than reverting the historical data or transaction record of the Hoodi chain itself. The October 26 activation window is officially off the table, and the updated network configuration contains no replacement activation epoch or timestamp. The Ethereum core development team has indicated that a replacement upgrade schedule will be formally announced at a later date, once investigations into EIP-8037 are fully completed and consensus is reached among contributors.
Hoodi Node and Validator Operators
The postponement requires immediate attention from anyone operating a Hoodi node or validator infrastructure. Operators are strongly advised to check both their execution layer and consensus layer clients to ensure their setups reflect the postponed activation well ahead of the original October 26 target date. Any software installations or custom network configurations that still hardcode or schedule the Glamsterdam upgrade at the previous activation time must be manually updated to align with the revised Hoodi configuration parameters.
Furthermore, network participants are cautioned against treating client release tables found in earlier announcements as definitive confirmation that those specific versions incorporate the postponement. Instead, operators must carefully follow their respective client team’s updated release notes and specific technical instructions regarding the revised Hoodi schedule. In addition to standard node software, validator operators should thoroughly review any instructions related to their specific validator clients and block-builder infrastructure to avoid potential consensus misalignments when the testnet continues its normal operation without the scheduled upgrade.
Client Releases
New client software releases that properly incorporate the postponed Hoodi activation are expected to be rolled out by various client teams. Operators are instructed 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 Hoodi has been successfully removed or disabled.
Because client updates are published progressively by different development teams, node runners and validators are encouraged to monitor official channels and the primary announcement page for direct links to verified releases as they become available. In the realm of consensus layer infrastructure, operators running a validator must ensure that both the consensus layer beacon node and the validator client are updated concurrently. Similarly, operators relying on external block-building infrastructure or specialized builder tooling should closely follow guidance provided by their tooling vendors as compatibility details for the postponed activation are confirmed.
Application Developers and Mainnet Users
Application developers who have been utilizing the Hoodi testnet for staging and testing purposes must adjust their development timelines accordingly. Testing routines should no longer be planned around an October 26 Glamsterdam activation, and developers should await a newly published activation schedule before attempting to test upgrade-specific features on the testnet environment.
It is important for the broader community to note that this announcement pertains strictly to the Hoodi testnet. The decision does not establish a Glamsterdam mainnet activation date, nor does it impact the current status of the Ethereum mainnet. Consequently, regular Ethereum mainnet users and individual ETH holders are not required to take any action whatsoever as a result of this latest development update.
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
