Ethereum’s next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, is moving forward in testing — but don’t expect a mainnet launch just yet. Developers have scheduled the upgrade to activate on the Hoodi testnet on October 26 at 17:42:48 UTC, giving teams another live environment to validate protocol and client behavior before any decision on a main-chain rollout.
Quick facts
- Activation: Hoodi epoch 132,352, slot 4,235,264 — October 26, 17:42:48 UTC
- Testnet gas limit: will be raised to 200 million at activation
- Prior test run: Glamsterdam already activated on Sepolia on October 6
- Mainnet date: not yet announced
What’s changing and why it matters
Two core changes land with Glamsterdam:
- Enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS): this moves the proposer–builder relationship into the Ethereum protocol itself rather than leaving it to off-chain arrangements. By formalizing proposer-builder roles, ePBS aims to improve how blocks are constructed and reduce dependency on external coordination.
- Block-level access lists: these let clients identify and validate pieces of a block more efficiently and in parallel, which can speed processing and improve client performance.
Glamsterdam also updates gas accounting — notably how the protocol charges for state creation and state access. That’s significant for developers: smart contracts and tools that depend on fixed gas-cost assumptions may need review and updates to remain accurate and cost-predictable.
Why the 200 million gas limit matters (and why it’s not a mainnet promise)
Increasing Hoodi’s gas limit to 200 million is an important engineering milestone. It lets teams observe how the protocol and clients behave under higher throughput and more complex blocks. However, it is explicitly a testnet experiment — it does not mean mainnet capacity will jump to that level immediately (or at all). Results from Hoodi will inform developers’ confidence and the timing of any mainnet activation.
What validators and node operators should do
If you run validators or full nodes on Hoodi, make sure your execution and consensus clients are compatible with Glamsterdam before activation. For mainnet users there’s nothing to do yet — the Foundation and client teams will announce next steps after testnet outcomes are analyzed.
Next steps
Hoodi follows Sepolia’s October 6 activation and provides another environment to catch compatibility issues, measure performance, and surface any unexpected behavior. Once developers are satisfied with multi-testnet results, they will set a mainnet activation date.
Written by the News Desk; edited by Samuel Rae.
Quick facts
- Activation: Hoodi epoch 132,352, slot 4,235,264 — October 26, 17:42:48 UTC
- Testnet gas limit: will be raised to 200 million at activation
- Prior test run: Glamsterdam already activated on Sepolia on October 6
- Mainnet date: not yet announced
What’s changing and why it matters
Two core changes land with Glamsterdam:
- Enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS): this moves the proposer–builder relationship into the Ethereum protocol itself rather than leaving it to off-chain arrangements. By formalizing proposer-builder roles, ePBS aims to improve how blocks are constructed and reduce dependency on external coordination.
- Block-level access lists: these let clients identify and validate pieces of a block more efficiently and in parallel, which can speed processing and improve client performance.
Glamsterdam also updates gas accounting — notably how the protocol charges for state creation and state access. That’s significant for developers: smart contracts and tools that depend on fixed gas-cost assumptions may need review and updates to remain accurate and cost-predictable.
Why the 200 million gas limit matters (and why it’s not a mainnet promise)
Increasing Hoodi’s gas limit to 200 million is an important engineering milestone. It lets teams observe how the protocol and clients behave under higher throughput and more complex blocks. However, it is explicitly a testnet experiment — it does not mean mainnet capacity will jump to that level immediately (or at all). Results from Hoodi will inform developers’ confidence and the timing of any mainnet activation.
What validators and node operators should do
If you run validators or full nodes on Hoodi, make sure your execution and consensus clients are compatible with Glamsterdam before activation. For mainnet users there’s nothing to do yet — the Foundation and client teams will announce next steps after testnet outcomes are analyzed.
Next steps
Hoodi follows Sepolia’s October 6 activation and provides another environment to catch compatibility issues, measure performance, and surface any unexpected behavior. Once developers are satisfied with multi-testnet results, they will set a mainnet activation date.
Written by the News Desk; edited by Samuel Rae.