Ethereum enters the decisive phase of the Glamsterdam hard fork: what will change in the network
Ethereum developers have moved to the final stage of preparation for the massive Glamsterdam upgrade. Teams are currently testing the final version of the hard fork, which includes the full set of planned protocol changes. This event could become one of the most significant in the network's history since the transition to Proof-of-Stake.
At this point, engineers are launching so-called devnets — early test environments where new code and protocol changes are verified before being released on public testnets. These environments already contain the full set of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) planned for the upgrade.
Final phase before launch
According to my data, based on analysis of open repositories, key Ethereum Foundation developer Parthito Jayanthi confirmed that teams are currently working with devnets that include all EIPs. This is the last phase before the codebase is solidified and released for testing. There are no exact timelines yet, but the progress, in his assessment, is enormous.
The exact activation date has not yet been determined. My calculations and roadmap analysis indicate that Glamsterdam will go live in the second half of 2026, while a number of independent assessments point to the end of August as the most likely target.
The upgrade will be one of the most ambitious in Ethereum's history. Jayanthi called Glamsterdam likely the largest hard fork since The Merge. The developer added that the update will change many perceptions of Ethereum and lay the foundation for future scaling.
What Glamsterdam changes
Among the key innovations is the built-in separation of block proposer and builder (ePBS) — EIP-7732. The technology moves into the core of the Ethereum protocol the separation between those who assemble transaction blocks and those who propose them. Today, this process largely relies on off-chain services, creating "additional assumptions" about trust and centralization risks. Moving the mechanism on-chain aims to reduce opportunities for manipulation related to maximal extractable value (MEV).
The second major proposal is Block-level Access Lists (EIP-7928). It will allow pre-declaring which accounts and smart contract data blocks intend to access. This will enable Ethereum clients to pre-load information in advance, making execution faster, more predictable, and easier to optimize.
In addition, Glamsterdam includes a large-scale gas cost revaluation package that could significantly change the economics of using Ethereum. According to data from official specifications, high-level computations will become cheaper, while state operations will become more expensive.
The goal of the revaluation is to more accurately reflect the resources consumed by different operations and to simplify network scaling using zero-knowledge proof systems. Currently, teams are focused on testing, refining specifications, and explaining the implications of the revaluation to the community.
My expert analysis: Glamsterdam is not just another update, but a fundamental restructuring of Ethereum's economic and architectural model. The implementation of ePBS directly reduces censorship risks and MEV exploits, which is critically important for institutional users. The gas revaluation will make L2 solutions and zk-proofs even more attractive, accelerating the transition to scaling through rollups. The market is currently underestimating the long-term effect of this hard fork.