According to ChainCatcher, Ethereum’s Glamsterdam hard fork entered its final development testnet stage on Tuesday. The upgrade has locked in ten EIP proposals and is described as the largest Ethereum protocol upgrade since the Merge. Based on the information provided, Glamsterdam covers several areas of the protocol, including consensus-layer changes, block processing, gas-limit design, and user-level transaction costs.
ePBS and block-level access lists lead the upgrade package
Among the ten EIPs, two proposals are listed as the core changes: EIP-7732 and EIP-7928. EIP-7732 brings proposer-builder separation, known as ePBS, directly into Ethereum’s consensus layer. This would replace the current reliance on off-chain relays such as MEV-Boost, moving the related mechanism from an external relay-based setup into the protocol layer itself.
EIP-7928 introduces block-level access lists, or BALs. Under this proposal, validators would be able to process unrelated transactions in parallel. Together, EIP-7732 and EIP-7928 are designed to pave the way for a 200 million gas limit. Compared with the current level of about 60 million gas, that target represents roughly a threefold increase, with theoretical throughput reaching about 10,000 TPS.
Mainnet activation remains unset as testnet validation continues
At the user level, EIP-2780 is expected to make standard ETH transfers up to 71% cheaper. The proposal directly addresses the cost of ordinary ETH transfers, while the upgrade still has to complete validation on the Holesky and Hoodi testnets before mainnet activation.
No mainnet activation date has been set. Based on historical timing, the upgrade is expected to go live between September and December 2026. The 200 million gas limit is a design target rather than a mandatory value enforced by the fork. The final increase would be advanced gradually through gas voting signals from validators.