Ethereum core developers have pushed the Glamsterdam upgrade into its final development phase, shifting Layer 1 scaling and block-production changes back into the spotlight. Private developer networks are now running the full suite of proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) for the fork, marking a major milestone before public testnets, code hardening, and a mainnet activation window that’s still to be fixed.
What’s happening now
- Client teams are running private devnets that include all the EIPs expected in Glamsterdam, allowing integrators to validate how the complete upgrade behaves end-to-end before broader testing begins.
- Ethereum Foundation developer Parithosh Jayanthi says teams currently have “all the EIPs in them right now,” and while there’s “no fixed timeline,” the effort has made “massive progress.”
- Developers still expect Glamsterdam in the second half of 2026, but the exact date will depend on testnet outcomes and client readiness.
The core technical changes
Glamsterdam bundles several substantial consensus- and execution-layer changes. The headline proposals:
- Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS, EIP-7732)
- Moves the separation between block builders and block proposers into Ethereum’s core protocol.
- Aims to reduce reliance on off-chain relays, increase transparency in how blocks are constructed, and mitigate risks from maximal extractable value (MEV) that can arise from privileged transaction ordering.
- Block-Level Access Lists (BALs, EIP-7928)
- Each block can declare up front which accounts and contract storage it will access.
- This allows nodes to pre-load necessary data and potentially execute transactions in parallel when they touch different parts of state, improving block processing efficiency.
- Gas repricing changes
- The upgrade reprices certain operations so “high-level compute gets cheaper and state gets more expensive,” Jayanthi said.
- The goal is to align fees more closely with the actual resources operations consume, which could influence how developers design contracts that create or read large amounts of persistent state.
Why it matters
- Glamsterdam doubles down on Layer 1 execution and block production improvements after earlier 2026 roadmap upgrades (Pectra and Fusaka) focused on validator performance, data capacity, and throughput. Fusaka’s testnet work emphasized PeerDAS and blob capacity; Glamsterdam pushes deeper into how blocks are built and executed.
- For node operators and validators, the upgrade requires updated client software before mainnet activation. For ordinary ETH holders, wallet functionality and balances should remain unchanged.
Next steps
If private devnet testing remains stable, the roadmap will move to public testnets and then to a mainnet schedule. Jayanthi called Glamsterdam “probably the largest fork we’ve had since the Merge,” underscoring its scope and potential impact on protocol mechanics and developer behavior.
Bottom line: Glamsterdam is shaping up to be a pivotal Layer 1 upgrade for Ethereum — focused on transparency in block construction, execution efficiency, and fee economics — with major testing underway and a tentative target of H2 2026 pending testnet results.
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