Ethereum enters the critical phase of the Glamsterdam hard fork: devnet testing has begun
Ethereum developers have moved to the final stage of preparing the major network upgrade known as Glamsterdam. Teams have now begun testing the hard fork on specialized devnet environments, which already include the full set of planned Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). This is a key step before freezing the codebase and subsequent deployment on public test networks.
Final Testing Phase
As reported by Ethereum Foundation lead DevOps engineer Parithosh Jayanthi, work is underway with devnet environments where all changes have been integrated. In his assessment, progress is tremendous. Although the exact activation date has not yet been announced, most analytical forecasts converge on the second half of 2026, with the most likely target being the end of August.
Glamsterdam, according to Jayanthi, will likely become the largest hard fork since The Merge (the transition to proof-of-stake in 2022). He emphasized that the update will fundamentally change perceptions of the network and lay the foundation for its future scaling.
Key Changes: ePBS and Gas Revaluation
Among the most significant innovations is the built-in separation of block proposer and builder roles (ePBS, EIP-7732). Currently, this process largely depends on external services, creating risks of centralization and "additional trust assumptions." Integrating the mechanism directly into the protocol aims to reduce opportunities for manipulation related to maximal extractable value (MEV).
The second important proposal is block-level access lists (EIP-7928). It allows pre-declaring which accounts and smart contracts a block will access. This gives Ethereum clients the ability to preload data, making transaction execution faster, more predictable, and easier to optimize.
Additionally, Glamsterdam includes a large-scale revaluation of gas costs. According to Jayanthi, high-level computations will become cheaper, while state operations on the network will become more expensive. The goal is to more accurately reflect consumed resources and simplify scaling through zero-knowledge proof systems. Teams are currently focused on testing, refining specifications, and explaining the implications of this recalibration to the community.
Cryptalist Analysis: Glamsterdam is not just another upgrade but a paradigm shift for Ethereum. ePBS directly attacks one of the network's main pain points—MEV centralization—while the gas revaluation paves the way for future Layer 2 solutions and zk-rollups. If the team succeeds, we will see a fundamentally more resilient and scalable network.