Upgrade Background and Core Components
Glamsterdam is positioned as the largest network upgrade for Ethereum since The Merge in September 2022, expected to activate in the second half of 2026. The upgrade focuses on three key technical components: enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS) integrates the previously relay-dependent process into the protocol layer, eliminating trust in relays and enhancing censorship resistance and decentralization; block-level access lists (BALs) allow block proposers to declare which accounts and storage slots may be accessed, enabling parallel transaction execution and more efficient state synchronization; gas repricing aims to more accurately reflect computational resource consumption and state storage costs, reducing fee volatility.
Impact on Ethereum and Ordinary Users
For the Ethereum mainnet, ePBS reduces MEV (maximal extractable value) centralization risk, BALs can boost transaction throughput, and gas repricing is expected to make fee structures more predictable. Ordinary users will benefit indirectly from more stable gas fees and smoother transaction experiences, without needing to take any active steps. Developers and DApp teams should note the transaction structure changes introduced by BALs to optimize parallel execution efficiency.