Glamsterdam Upgrade on Hoodi Postponed Indefinitely Following Core Developer Consensus

The upcoming Glamsterdam network upgrade on the Hoodi testnet, which was previously slated for October 26, 2026, at precisely 17:42:48 UTC during epoch 132,352, has been officially postponed. Core developers arrived at the decision to delay the deployment during All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call #248. At this time, a new activation date has not been established, leaving the network schedule open as developers regroup to address technical considerations.

This latest development fully supersedes the timeline, scheduling parameters, and activation instructions that were previously outlined in the initial Hoodi testnet announcement published on October 16, 2026. Node operators, developers, and validators who had been preparing for the late-October activation must now pause their deployment preparations and wait for further guidance from core development teams.

What Has Changed?

The decision to hit the pause button on the Glamsterdam upgrade came after core developers identified a need for additional due diligence. Specifically, the delay has been implemented to allow engineering teams more time to thoroughly investigate the real-world interactions of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037 with existing mainnet smart contracts. Ensuring that protocol-level modifications do not introduce unforeseen edge cases or break complex contract logic remains a top priority for the Ethereum development lifecycle.

By postponing the upgrade, developers have removed several major components from the immediate Hoodi pipeline. The delay successfully tables both the scheduled Amsterdam execution layer activation and the Gloas consensus layer activation. Furthermore, the decision rolls back a specific gas-limit schedule that had been designed to elevate Hoodi’s operational gas limit to 200 million at the exact same epoch.

It is important to note that this configuration rollback only affects future upgrade parameters and does not revert the historical chain data of the Hoodi testnet itself. The October 26 activation is entirely off the table, and the updated network configuration currently contains no replacement activation epoch or timestamp. The formal rescheduling of the replacement upgrade will be determined through ongoing coordination and announced at a later date once investigations into EIP-8037 are concluded.

Hoodi Node and Validator Operators

Individuals and organizations operating a Hoodi node or validator are urged to review both their execution layer and consensus layer clients immediately. Because the previous schedule was deeply embedded in many testing environments, operators must ensure their software setups and custom network configurations reflect the postponed activation well before the original October 26 target date. Any software environments or specialized tooling configurations that still anticipate the Glamsterdam upgrade at the old timestamp must be updated to align with the revised Hoodi parameters.

Operators are advised against treating the client release tables from the earlier October 16 announcement as definitive proof that those specific software versions incorporate the latest postponement. Instead, infrastructure runners should closely monitor official client team release notes and adhere strictly to updated instructions concerning the revised Hoodi schedule. Additionally, validator operators running staking infrastructure must review any associated guidelines provided by their validator client teams and external builder infrastructure providers to prevent syncing errors or missed attestations.

Client Releases

As client development teams finalize software builds that account for the postponed Hoodi activation, updated releases will be systematically cataloged and shared. Node runners and stakers must ensure they update both their execution layer clients and their consensus layer clients to versions whose official release notes explicitly confirm that the October 26 Glamsterdam activation on Hoodi has been removed or disabled.

Because client software updates are rolled out asynchronously by different implementation teams, infrastructure operators should regularly check official communication channels for the latest links and version numbers. For those running validator nodes, it bears repeating that both the consensus layer beacon node and the validator client software must be kept fully synchronized and updated in tandem.

Builder and validator tooling guidance will similarly be updated as soon as more information is confirmed regarding the postponed activation. Operators who rely on external block-building infrastructure should maintain close communication with their respective tooling providers to ensure their setup remains compatible with the current testnet state.

Application Developers and Mainnet Users

Application developers who rely on the Hoodi testnet for staging, integration testing, or smart contract auditing must adjust their development pipelines accordingly. Testing schedules should no longer be structured around an active Glamsterdam deployment on October 26, as a revised activation timeline will be communicated through official channels once a new date is selected by core developers.

It is vital to emphasize that this postponement announcement applies strictly to the Hoodi testnet environment. The decision does not set or imply a Glamsterdam mainnet activation date, and no operational or administrative action is required from everyday Ethereum mainnet users, decentralized application users, or ETH token holders as a direct result of this testnet delay.