In early May 2026, more than 100 core Ethereum contributors gathered in Longyearbyen, deep within the Arctic Circle, for a week-long Soldøgn interoperability summit under continuous daylight. By the end, they announced that the three main technical goals for the Glamsterdam upgrade were essentially ready: locking the gas limit at 200 million, stable operation of ePBS in external builder workflows, and final confirmation of EIP-8037’s re-pricing parameters. This upgrade, expected to go live on mainnet around June 2026, is widely regarded as Ethereum’s most significant performance leap since The Merge in 2022.
What Does Raising Ethereum’s Gas Limit from 60 Million to 200 Million Mean?
Ethereum’s current gas limit is around 60 million. Since 2021, upgrades like Pectra and Fusaka have gradually raised it from 30 million to this level. Glamsterdam will boost it to 200 million in one move, increasing the computational capacity per block by 3.3 times. The network’s theoretical throughput will jump from about 1,000 TPS to roughly 10,000 TPS.
Simply increasing the gas limit doesn’t guarantee the network can handle the corresponding load. If execution clients can’t keep up, a higher gas limit is just a theoretical figure, and congestion can still occur during peak periods. However, with ePBS, EIP-8037, and Block-Level Access Lists working together, this gas limit leap comes with multi-layer safeguards—from execution to state storage.
How Does ePBS Achieve Protocol-Level Restructuring of Block Production?
Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) is the core architectural change in Glamsterdam. Essentially, it separates the roles of block builder and block proposer at the protocol level. Previously, this separation relied on external relays and third-party builder networks. With ePBS, it’s embedded directly in the consensus layer, eliminating trust dependencies on third parties.
ePBS introduces clear deadlines for block construction, payload reveal, and attestation, giving the execution layer more room on the timeline. Validators no longer need to handle complex block building tasks and can focus on validation, while high-performance professional builders can independently optimize block construction strategies. The protocol-level integration of ePBS also brings in the Payload Timeliness Committee and dual deadline logic, boosting throughput while reducing bottlenecks in block validation.
How Do Block-Level Access Lists Enable Parallel Execution and Performance Gains?
Block-Level Access Lists (BAL) are more of a fundamental optimization. By allowing clients to prefetch a block’s read/write set before execution, they enable parallel transaction processing and batch I/O. This doesn’t directly increase maximum throughput, but it accelerates the slowest execution paths—critical after a major gas limit increase, as node sync speed and state root computation become key. BAL is specifically designed to address these challenges.
Ethereum’s path to parallelization can be seen as a phased evolution: early stages focused on serialized execution and storage structure optimization; mid-stage, BAL enabled benchmarking on testnets; later, the network will gradually transition toward broader parallel transaction models. Glamsterdam isn’t turning Ethereum into a fully parallel chain overnight, but it lays the infrastructure groundwork for more efficient parallel execution.
How Does EIP-8037 Address State Bloat and Resource Pricing Imbalances?
Raising the gas limit accelerates state data growth. Ethereum’s global state tracks all account balances and contract data. Without control, state becomes the biggest burden for full node operators.
EIP-8037 shifts from dynamic per-state-byte pricing to a fixed cost_per_state_byte, raising the gas cost for creating new state. This prevents attackers and inefficient contract deployments from cheaply bloating state storage. The mechanism ensures that even with block capacity expanded to 200 million, the marginal cost for new state data stays aligned with actual hardware storage costs, avoiding unsustainable database growth from "blocks doing more."
How Does L1 Execution Layer Scaling Change L2’s Value Proposition and Competitive Landscape?
For years, Ethereum’s scaling narrative centered on Rollup-Centric design—moving most execution to L2 networks, with L1 focused on secure settlement. Glamsterdam signals a clear shift: the boundaries of mainnet execution are being redefined.
L2 networks handle 95% to 99% of Ethereum ecosystem transactions, while L1 transfer fees have dropped to extremely low levels. After Glamsterdam, L1 data settlement costs will fall further, with rollup fees expected to drop by about 70%. This benefits large L2 solutions, but also means mainnet use cases are expanding—many simple transactions that previously had to use L2 will now be more convenient directly on L1.
For L2 projects, this brings short-term gains and medium-term challenges. Lower costs are an immediate advantage, but they must prove their unique value and efficiency to the market. Otherwise, users will genuinely ask, "Why use L2 instead of just executing on L1?"
What Is Glamsterdam’s Upgrade Timeline and Execution Certainty?
Before the Soldøgn summit, many Glamsterdam technical parameters were still under discussion. After a week of round-the-clock testing, the final specs were validated on the glamsterdam-devnet-2 testnet. External builder end-to-end paths passed cross-client tests, and multi-client devnets ran stably.
EIP-8061 was included in the upgrade, EIP-8080 was explicitly rejected, and EIP-8045 was narrowed to a limited window for proposer responsibilities. These choices show the team has moved from "feasibility discussions" to "finalized executable specs." Final parameters will be confirmed at the upcoming AllCoreDevs meeting, and mainnet activation is expected in June 2026.
Will Scaling Continue After Glamsterdam? What’s Next on Ethereum’s Roadmap?
According to the Ethereum Foundation’s 2026 protocol priorities update, work is now organized around three long-term tracks: Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1. Glamsterdam is a major milestone on the Scale track, not the endpoint. The industry widely believes the 200 million gas limit isn’t the ceiling—after Glamsterdam, further increases are expected.
Next up is the Hegotá upgrade, aiming to introduce Verkle trees and stateless clients to the protocol. This will exponentially reduce full node data storage requirements, allowing ordinary consumer devices to run nodes. It fundamentally boosts decentralization and censorship resistance, forming the backbone of Ethereum’s long-term competitiveness.
Summary
The Glamsterdam upgrade, with its jump to a 200 million gas limit, protocol-native proposer-builder separation (ePBS), and EIP-8037’s state cost re-pricing, will push Ethereum L1’s theoretical throughput to around 10,000 TPS. It’s the biggest protocol-level performance boost since The Merge.
| Technical Component | Core Function | Direct Network Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Gas Limit (60M → 200M) | Expands block computational capacity | Theoretical TPS jumps from ~1,000 → ~10,000 |
| ePBS | Separates proposer and builder roles | Removes third-party relay dependency, gives execution layer more processing room |
| EIP-8037 | Raises gas cost for new state | Curbs state bloat, aligns storage cost with hardware cost |
| Block-Level Access Lists | Prefetches transaction read/write sets | Enables parallel execution, speeds up node sync |
With L1 capacity expanded, rollup data settlement costs are expected to drop about 70%, opening up further fee competition for L2s. Meanwhile, L1’s coverage of use cases will grow significantly. The Hegotá upgrade is already in preparation, with Verkle trees and stateless clients slated for late 2026, further lowering the barrier for running full nodes.
FAQ
Q: When is the Glamsterdam upgrade expected to go live on Ethereum mainnet?
According to the Ethereum Foundation’s plan, the Glamsterdam upgrade is expected to activate on mainnet around June 2026, but the exact timing depends on final confirmation by the development team at the AllCoreDevs meeting.
Q: Will raising the gas limit from 60 million to 200 million significantly increase node operating costs?
The upgrade improves node sync efficiency via BAL and controls state growth speed with EIP-8037. The upcoming Hegotá upgrade will also introduce Verkle trees and stateless clients to further reduce node data storage burdens.
Q: How much will L2 rollup fees decrease after L1 scaling?
After the upgrade, L1 data settlement costs will drop, and rollup fees are expected to decrease by about 70%. Glamsterdam’s L1-first approach will also accelerate functional differentiation competition in the L2 ecosystem.
Q: What’s the difference between ePBS and current PBS?
Current PBS relies on external relays and third-party builder networks to separate builder and proposer roles. ePBS embeds this directly in the consensus layer, eliminating third-party trust dependencies and achieving protocol-native block building and validation separation.
Q: What’s Ethereum’s next major upgrade after Glamsterdam?
The Hegotá upgrade is planned for late 2026. Its core features include Verkle trees, stateless clients, and FOCIL for enhanced censorship resistance and account abstraction. Final parameters are still in development.
