Key Takeaways
- Glamsterdam targets a 200 million gas limit through ePBS stability and EIP-8037.
- The upgrade could deliver roughly 3x more throughput, lower fees, and parallel execution on Ethereum Layer 1.
- It marks another major step in Ethereum’s broader “Surge” scaling roadmap.
Ethereum’s rapid upgrade cycle continues with the upcoming Glamsterdam hard fork, currently targeted for the first half of 2026.
The upgrade is shaping up to be one of Ethereum’s biggest execution-layer improvements yet, focused on scaling the network without compromising decentralization or security.
What the Glamsterdam Upgrade Actually Does
Formally outlined in EIP-7773, Glamsterdam combines “Gloas” consensus-layer changes with “Amsterdam” execution-layer upgrades to significantly expand Ethereum’s throughput capacity.
At the center of the upgrade is a targeted gas limit floor of 200 million, roughly 3.3x higher than Ethereum’s current ~60 million baseline.
That increase is enabled by three major upgrades designed to help Ethereum process far more activity without fees or state growth spiraling out of control.
Stabilization of the enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS)
The first major change is the stabilization of enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (EIP-7732).
In simpler terms, it restructures block-building timing to give execution clients more room to process blocks efficiently while reducing reliance on external builder systems.
Multi-client Glamsterdam devnets are already running with builder pipelines tested across nearly all major clients.
Block-Level Access Lists
The second major upgrade is Block-Level Access Lists (EIP-7928), often referred to as BAL optimizations.
This allows clients to pre-fetch a block’s full read/write state before execution starts, enabling parallel execution, batched I/O operations, and faster state-root calculations.
Those improvements are considered critical if Ethereum wants to handle significantly larger blocks without overwhelming node hardware.
Finalization of EIP-8037 gas repricing.
The third major component is EIP-8037, which finalizes Ethereum’s updated gas repricing model.
The proposal increases the cost of creating new state storage using a fixed cost-per-state-byte system.
The goal is straightforward: allow higher throughput while preventing runaway state bloat that could eventually make Ethereum too expensive to run.
Together, these upgrades are designed to create a smoother and more scalable execution environment across the network.
Smaller consensus-layer tweaks, including EIP-8061 for validator exits and consolidation churn, are also in the package.
Why This Matters
If Glamsterdam works as intended, the impact could be significant across the entire Ethereum ecosystem.
Transaction throughput could potentially triple, with Ethereum’s Layer 1 moving closer toward handling 10,000+ TPS when combined with rollups and Layer 2 scaling systems.
More importantly for users, higher throughput should help suppress fee spikes during periods of heavy demand.
That could make Ethereum feel noticeably faster and cheaper at the base layer — something users have been asking for during congested market cycles for years.
For developers, the introduction of parallel execution and deterministic access lists creates more room for complex applications without triggering brutal gas wars.
That’s particularly important for sectors like DeFi, gaming, NFTs, prediction markets, and AI-related on-chain applications that require heavier transaction throughput.
Node operators also benefit from more efficient I/O and execution improvements, helping keep hardware requirements manageable even as block sizes increase.
Meanwhile, Ethereum’s updated gas repricing model is meant to ensure the network remains sustainable long term instead of simply scaling recklessly.
Validators could gain more flexibility, too, especially after the validator consolidation changes introduced in Pectra.
Glamsterdam’s Role
Glamsterdam fits directly into Ethereum’s long-term scaling roadmap.
It follows Pectra in 2025, which introduced smart-account functionality via EIP-7702 and raised validator limits, and Fusaka later that year, which introduced PeerDAS and began Ethereum’s climb toward higher gas limits.
In many ways, Glamsterdam represents the completion of a major part of “The Surge” — Ethereum’s execution-scaling phase.
The upgrade lays the groundwork for later roadmap stages focused on statelessness, single-slot finality, and, eventually, full danksharding-related scalability improvements.
Looking ahead, Ethereum’s planned Hegotá upgrade (n the second half of 2026)will tackle areas like stateless clients, account abstraction refinements, and further consensus optimizations.
Within Ethereum’s broader roadmap — The Merge, The Surge, The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge — Glamsterdam stands out as one of the most practical, scaling-focused upgrades to date.
Rather than relying on hype-heavy promises, the fork focuses on incremental engineering improvements that collectively make Ethereum significantly more efficient.
And if the current devnet testing phase continues to progress smoothly, Glamsterdam could become one of the upgrades that finally make Ethereum’s scaling roadmap feel tangible to everyday users, not just developers.
Prashant Jha is a seasoned crypto journalist based in Delhi, India, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science Engineering. Passionate about the evolving world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, he has been a dedicated voice in the industry since 2018. Prashant’s expertise lies in regulatory reporting, where he unravels complex legal and financial developments with clarity and precision. Before joining CCN in 2024, he honed his craft at Cointelegraph, establishing himself as a trusted name in crypto journalism.
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