The Ethereum core developer community has officially set the stage for the next major milestone in the upcoming Glamsterdam network upgrade. Following its initial activation on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, the Glamsterdam upgrade is now officially scheduled to roll out on the Hoodi testnet. This substantial network enhancement is designed to push Ethereum’s layer-1 scaling roadmap forward by introducing critical structural changes, including enshrined proposer-builder separation, block-level access lists, and a comprehensive overhaul of gas pricing mechanics tailored to accurately reflect the real-world costs of state growth and network execution.
According to the finalized deployment schedule, Glamsterdam will activate on the Hoodi testnet at epoch 132,352, corresponding to slot 4,235,264. The activation timestamp is locked in for October 26, 2026, at precisely 17:42:48 UTC. Alongside this transition, the Hoodi network’s gas limit will be increased significantly to 200 million, mirroring the parameters previously established on Sepolia. While the testnet rollout timeline is now firmly established, core developers and client teams have yet to finalize or announce an official activation date for the Ethereum mainnet.
In preparation for the upcoming change, node operators are instructed to monitor client release channels and ensure that both their execution layer and consensus layer software are updated well ahead of the scheduled activation slot. Utilizing compatible client versions is critical, as operators must run software that explicitly supports the Hoodi Glamsterdam deployment to remain synchronized with the upgraded network.
Glamsterdam Overview
The Glamsterdam upgrade represents a comprehensive union of the Amsterdam execution layer upgrade and the Gloas consensus layer upgrade. At its core, the combined package aims to fundamentally reshape how blocks are produced, validated, and processed across the network. By addressing structural bottlenecks at both the execution and consensus layers, Glamsterdam lays a robust foundation for scaling Ethereum’s layer-1 throughput without compromising the decentralization or practical feasibility of running a node.
Headlining the upgrade are two major architectural shifts: enshrined proposer-builder separation and block-level access lists. Together, these modifications modernize block lifecycle management, making data retrieval, transaction validation, and state management dramatically more efficient for validators and client software alike.
Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation
One of the most anticipated structural changes introduced in Glamsterdam is enshrined proposer-builder separation, formally designated under EIP-7732. Up to this point, the separation of block proposers and block builders has largely relied on external, trusted middleware. EIP-7732 brings this separation directly into the core consensus protocol of Ethereum.
Under the new mechanism, a block proposer includes a builder’s cryptographic commitment to an execution payload within a slot, and the builder subsequently reveals the full payload. The protocol natively handles the financial settlement and payment transfers to the proposer, thereby minimizing trust assumptions regarding third-party relayers and external middleware. Furthermore, this update cleanly decouples consensus validation from execution validation. By separating these duties, validators are granted additional time to thoroughly review execution payloads. A specialized payload timeliness committee is established to attest whether the builder successfully revealed its payload and ensured that corresponding blob data was available on time. Validator operators and engineering teams maintaining builder infrastructure are strongly encouraged to review the updated interfaces and operational duties ahead of the network transition.
Block-Level Access Lists
Complementing proposer-builder separation, EIP-7928 introduces enforced block-level access lists to the protocol. These lists systematically record all accounts and storage locations accessed over the course of a block, alongside recording post-transaction state changes.
By having predefined access patterns codified into the block structure, client software gains the unprecedented ability to read state data from disk in parallel. Additionally, clients can validate transactions concurrently and compute state roots with greater computational efficiency. This optimization directly targets execution bottlenecks, allowing the network to comfortably handle higher transaction volumes while keeping hardware requirements manageable for independent node operators.
Gas Pricing and State Growth
Glamsterdam also brings vital adjustments to gas accounting to ensure that fees better reflect actual resource consumption and mitigate long-term state bloat. EIP-8037 increases and separately meters the costs associated with creating new state, while EIP-8038 updates general state-access costs. Further adjustments encompass intrinsic transaction gas, calldata pricing, access lists, and broader block gas accounting rules.
Application developers and smart contract engineers must thoroughly test their contracts and gas estimation logic against these revised rules. Decentralized applications and protocols that rely on fixed gas stipends, hardcoded transaction gas limits, or legacy assumptions regarding remaining execution gas may experience unexpected failures unless adjusted. The developer community has provided specialized testing guides and impact documentation to help identify affected smart contracts prior to mainnet deployment.
Developer and Validator Improvements
Beyond its headline scaling features, Glamsterdam incorporates several targeted developer and validator enhancements. These include native ETH transfer logs, a dedicated slot-number opcode, an increased maximum contract size limit, a deterministic factory contract, and new stack-manipulation instructions designed to optimize smart contract deployment and execution.
On the consensus side, the upgrade introduces forward-compatible data structures, explicitly excludes slashed validators from the proposal queue, and increases exit and consolidation churn rates to improve validator set fluidity.
Glamsterdam Security
Security remains a paramount priority throughout the testing and deployment lifecycle of the upgrade. The established Ethereum Bug Bounty Program is fully active for all Glamsterdam specifications and associated EIPs. Client implementations become eligible for bug bounty rewards as soon as their respective software releases are officially confirmed and published. Security researchers and auditors are encouraged to review the official bounty program documentation for details regarding reward multipliers, vulnerability submission criteria, and reporting requirements.
Glamsterdam Activation and Client Releases
The agreed deployment schedule places Hoodi activation at epoch 132,352 and slot 4,235,264 on October 26, 2026. This follows the successful Sepolia testnet deployment, which occurred earlier in the month at epoch 353,024 and slot 11,296,768. Mainnet activation remains undecided and will be formally scheduled by core developers once testnet stability has been thoroughly verified.
Node operators running consensus layer beacon nodes, validator clients, or execution layer software must ensure they update to the appropriate versions explicitly supporting the Hoodi upgrade. Operators utilizing specialized tooling, such as commit-boost, should likewise verify compatibility updates and review infrastructure-specific deployment guides before the activation epoch arrives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ethereum network upgrades rely on explicit, voluntary opt-in from the global community of node operators. Client developers design and coordinate the protocol modifications, but validators and non-staking node runners must independently update their software to adopt the new rules. Any node failing to update will be unable to follow the upgraded chain after activation, underscoring the importance of community coordination.
For ordinary Ethereum mainnet users and ETH holders, no direct action is required at this time, as current announcements pertain exclusively to the Hoodi testnet. Similarly, mainnet node operators and stakers do not need to alter their setups immediately. However, non-staking Hoodi node operators and active Hoodi stakers must update both their execution and consensus layer clients before the October 26 deadline, ensuring that both beacon nodes and validator clients are fully synchronized with the latest software versions.
Application and tooling developers are advised to review the scheduled EIPs, conduct comprehensive testing on Sepolia and Hoodi, and verify whether alterations to gas accounting, opcodes, or logs impact their existing codebases. The "Glamsterdam" moniker itself follows the established convention of naming execution layer upgrades after past Devcon or Devconnect host cities—in this case, Amsterdam, the site of Devconnect in 2022—while consensus layer upgrades continue to draw their names from stars.
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
