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ToggleEthereum developers have officially entered the final sprint of the "Glamsterdam" upgrade. Ethereum Foundation core developer Parithosh Jayanthi confirmed that the complete protocol containing all planned EIPs is now being executed in the developer testnets (devnets), which is described as the largest network overhaul since the 2022 Merge.
Three core reforms: ePBS, access lists, and gas repricing.
The Glumsterdam upgrade encompasses three main proposals. The first is ePBS (Extended Suite Parallel Block Proposal) , which separates block building from block proposal and embeds it directly into the Ethereum core protocol. Currently, this process relies primarily on off-chain mechanisms, which carries trust assumptions and centralization risks. Developers believe that bringing ePBS on-chain will reduce the operational space required for Maximum Extractable Value (MEV).
Secondly, there's the block-level access list , which allows blocks to announce in advance which accounts and smart contract information will be accessed before execution. This enables Ethereum clients to preload information, making block execution faster and more predictable.
The third is a comprehensive repricing of gas fees . Jayanthi points out, "This will dramatically change the cost of operations on Ethereum. Higher-order computations will become cheaper, while state operations will become more expensive." The goal of repricing is to make the fee structure more accurately reflect the resources consumed by different operations, while also making the network easier to integrate with zero-knowledge proof systems.
Development Roadmap: From devnet to testnet
Developers are currently testing the complete EIP assembly on devnet, the final stage before code hardening and deployment to the public testnet. Jayanthi stated, "There's no fixed timeline, but we've made tremendous progress."
While the exact launch date has not yet been determined, Glamsterdam is expected to officially launch in the second half of 2026. The next priorities include ongoing testing, finalizing the specifications, and communicating the impact of repricing to the Ethereum community.
Significance for developers
The Ethereum ecosystem has historically been dominated by Layer 2 blockchains (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism), and gas repricing will directly impact the fee structure of these chains. If higher-order computations become cheaper, the cost of Ethereum-based AI applications (such as on-chain inference and zero-knowledge proof verification) will decrease. However, if state access becomes more expensive, DApps that frequently read on-chain data may need to adjust their strategies.
While the Glamsterdam upgrade doesn't change Ethereum's consensus mechanism, it will reshape the underlying economic model. For developers, now is the best time to start testing new EIPs.
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