Ethereum 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 package of planned Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) for the fork, allowing client teams to exercise the complete upgrade before public testnets go live. According to Ethereum Foundation developer Parithosh Jayanthi, teams have “all the EIPs in them right now,” and while there’s “no fixed timeline,” he says developers have made “massive progress.” The upgrade is still expected in the second half of 2026, but the final date will depend on testnet outcomes and client readiness.
What Glamsterdam brings
- Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS, EIP-7732): This moves the split between block builders and proposers into the protocol itself. By enshrining that separation, Ethereum aims to reduce reliance on off-chain relays, increase transparency in block construction, and mitigate some MEV (maximal extractable value) risks that arise from opaque transaction ordering.
- Block-Level Access Lists (BALs, EIP-7928): BALs let a block declare in advance which accounts and contract storage it will access. That visibility helps nodes pre-load required data and enables safer parallel execution when transactions touch different state, improving block processing efficiency.
- Gas repricing: The upgrade will reweight fees so “high-level compute gets cheaper and state gets more expensive,” per Jayanthi. The idea is to align gas costs with the actual resources operations consume — a change that could reshape smart-contract design, especially for state-heavy apps.
Where this sits in Ethereum’s roadmap
Glamsterdam comes after earlier 2026 upgrades such as Pectra and Fusaka, which focused on validator performance, data capacity, and scaling primitives (Fusaka’s testnet work centered on PeerDAS and blob capacity). Glamsterdam shifts the roadmap deeper into Layer 1 execution and block production, and combines consensus-layer and execution-layer changes. The name itself blends Gloas and Amsterdam.
What it means for users and operators
- Regular ETH holders: No action required; wallets and balances won’t change.
- Validators and node operators: Will need to install updated client software before mainnet activation.
- Developers: May need to reconsider contract patterns and storage usage as gas costs change.
Why it matters
Glamsterdam alters how Ethereum builds blocks, prepares execution data, and prices on-chain work — not just a single tweak but a substantial reworking of core behaviors. Jayanthi called it “probably the largest fork we’ve had since the Merge.” If private devnet testing remains stable, the plan is to move to public testnets, followed by code hardening and then a finalized mainnet schedule.
Developers and node operators should watch the upcoming public testnets and client releases closely; those steps will determine the final timeline and when the network-wide upgrade will land.
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