The planned protocol upgrade would combine Gloas and Amsterdam changes, add enshrined proposer-builder separation and Block-Level Access Lists, and pursue higher capacity while keeping node requirements manageable.
Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade is planned for the second half of 2026, with developers working toward the fourth quarter, though no mainnet date has been confirmed. The upgrade combines Gloas on the consensus layer with Amsterdam on the execution layer and is designed to improve block production, prepare Ethereum for more parallel processing and update how the network prices resource use. The roadmap ties the timing to final specifications, client readiness, security reviews and stable public testnets. In May, the Ethereum Foundation said a multi-client devnet had tested the external-builder pipeline across nearly all clients, and developers aligned on a credible post-Glamsterdam gas-limit target of 200 million, which remains a goal after activation rather than a current mainnet setting. A central change is EIP-7732, which would bring proposer-builder separation into Ethereum’s consensus rules. Under the design, a builder commits to an execution payload and payment, the proposer selects the bid, and a Payload Timeliness Committee checks whether the payload and related blob data were revealed on time. The roadmap says this separation of consensus and execution checks could expand Ethereum’s block-building capacity within its 12-second slot. Another major proposal, EIP-7928, would add Block-Level Access Lists, or BALs, which record the accounts and storage locations touched in a block as well as resulting values after execution. Those lists are meant to help clients identify independent work and run parts of processing in parallel, while EIP-8159 would provide the network method for exchanging BALs. Ethereum says the resulting capacity gains would still depend on client performance, block contents and the gas limit adopted after activation. The upgrade also addresses state growth and fee design. EIP-8037 would introduce a fixed cost for each new byte of state, targeting average growth of 120 GiB a year at a reference block gas limit of 150 million, while EIP-8038, still under consideration, would raise charges for reading and modifying existing state. Other scheduled changes include EIP-7954 to raise the maximum contract size and EIP-7708 to create standard logs for non-zero ETH transfers and burns. Existing contracts are expected to keep working after the fork, and ETH holders would not need to swap or convert their coins. Still, node operators and validators will need to update both execution and consensus clients, while application teams are being urged to test gas usage, indexers, tracing tools and fee estimators before activation. Ethereum says the upgrade is intended to expand capacity without making home-node operation impractical, but any effect on fees, adoption or ETH’s price remains uncertain until the changes are launched and measured.