Ethereum’s upcoming major network upgrade, dubbed Glamsterdam, is marching steadily closer to full deployment following its successful initial activation on the Sepolia testnet earlier this month. Core developers and client teams have officially confirmed that the Hoodi testnet is next in line to receive the protocol overhaul. Scheduled to activate at epoch 132,352 and slot 4,235,264 on October 26, 2026, at 17:42:48 UTC, the Hoodi rollout will mark another crucial milestone in testing the network’s ambitious Layer 1 scaling roadmap before any mainnet deployment date is finalized.
Alongside the protocol changes taking effect at the specified activation slot, the Hoodi testnet will simultaneously raise its gas limit to 200 million, mirroring the parameters previously established during the Sepolia deployment. While the testnet schedules are actively progressing, core developers emphasize that a definitive mainnet activation date remains undecided. Client engineering teams are closely monitoring network stability and performance metrics on Sepolia and Hoodi before turning their attention toward mainnet planning.
Glamsterdam Overview
The Glamsterdam upgrade represents a comprehensive union of the Amsterdam execution layer upgrade and the Gloas consensus layer upgrade. Together, these two components introduce foundational structural shifts designed to enhance Ethereum’s long-term operational efficiency. At the heart of the upgrade are two headline improvements: enshrined proposer-builder separation and block-level access lists. These architectural modifications fundamentally alter how blocks are produced, broadcast, and validated across the decentralized network, paving the way for significantly higher Layer 1 throughput without compromising decentralization.
Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation
One of the most anticipated components of the upgrade is the introduction of enshrined proposer-builder separation, commonly referred to as ePBS, under EIP-7732. Historically, the separation between block proposers and specialized block builders relied heavily on external, trusted middleware. EPBS integrates this separation directly into Ethereum’s core consensus protocol.
Under the new mechanism, a block proposer includes a builder’s cryptographic commitment to an execution payload, and the builder subsequently reveals the actual payload within the protocol window. Crucially, the protocol itself handles the direct payment mechanism from the builder to the proposer, significantly minimizing trust assumptions and removing reliance on third-party relay infrastructure. Furthermore, ePBS decouples consensus validation from execution validation, granting validator nodes additional time to thoroughly check execution payloads. A specialized payload timeliness committee will attest to whether builders reveal their payloads and associated blob data on time. Validator operators and infrastructure maintainers are urged to review these updated duties and network interfaces ahead of the upgrade.
Block-Level Access Lists
Complementing ePBS, EIP-7732 introduces block-level access lists, or BALs, under EIP-7928. These enforced lists explicitly record all accounts and storage locations that are accessed during the lifecycle of a block, alongside their respective post-transaction state changes. By providing explicit visibility into state interactions before execution, client software can read state data from disk in parallel, validate transactions simultaneously, and compute state roots with unprecedented efficiency. Together, ePBS and BALs create a robust technical foundation designed to elevate Ethereum’s execution capacity while keeping node operations manageable for individual home stakers and institutional operators alike.
Gas Pricing and State Growth
Glamsterdam also introduces significant revisions to gas accounting to more accurately align transaction fees with actual resource consumption. EIP-8037 increases and separately meters the costs associated with creating new state, directly addressing long-term concerns regarding blockchain bloat and state growth. Simultaneously, EIP-8038 updates general state-access costs. Additional network adjustments target intrinsic transaction gas rules, calldata consumption, access lists, and overarching block gas accounting frameworks.
Application developers and smart contract engineers must thoroughly test their decentralized applications and gas estimation logic against these updated parameters. Contracts that depend on fixed gas stipends, hardcoded gas limits, or legacy assumptions regarding remaining gas may require modifications to function correctly after the upgrade. Development teams can consult the official Glamsterdam repricing impact guide to search for affected contracts and access specialized testing instructions.
Developer and Validator Improvements
Beyond its major architectural pillars, Glamsterdam incorporates several targeted enhancements for both developers and validators. The upgrade introduces native Ethereum 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 layer side, changes include forward-compatible data structures, protocol-level rules to exclude slashed validators from proposing new blocks, and an increase in the maximum exit and consolidation churn rates. Security audits and bug bounty programs remain fully operational, with the Ethereum Bug Bounty Program active for all Glamsterdam specifications, EIPs, and compliant client releases as they become available.
Activation Details and Client Requirements
The agreed deployment schedule places the Hoodi testnet activation on October 26, 2026. Node operators running non-staking nodes or validator infrastructure on Hoodi must ensure they update both their execution layer and consensus layer clients prior to the target epoch and slot. Stakers running validator setups are specifically reminded to update both their beacon nodes and validator clients simultaneously to prevent accidental slashing or missed attestations.
With client release versions continuously rolling out across major implementation teams, operators should verify that their chosen software explicitly supports the Hoodi Glamsterdam activation. Mainnet users, standard ETH holders, and decentralized application users who do not operate validator infrastructure or nodes do not need to take any immediate action, as this specific announcement is strictly limited to testnet preparations. Core developers will announce mainnet-specific timelines and requirements in a separate communication once testnet validation is complete.
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
Ethereum & Smart Contracts
