Overview of the Glamsterdam Upgrade
Ethereum is set to undergo its most significant network upgrade since The Merge, named Glamsterdam, targeting a mainnet launch in the second half of 2026. The upgrade focuses on enhancing mainnet performance, stabilizing gas fees, and preserving decentralization, paving the way for the Verge era.
Three Core Improvements
Glamsterdam introduces three pivotal EIPs: Enshrined PBS (ePBS) integrates proposer-builder separation directly into the protocol, removing reliance on third-party relays and improving censorship resistance while reducing MEV centralization risks. Block-Level Access Lists (BALs) allow transactions to declare their accessed storage slots before execution, enabling parallel execution and more efficient state syncing, which boosts overall throughput. Gas Repricing recalibrates the cost of computation and state storage operations to more accurately reflect actual resource consumption, reducing fee volatility and making gas costs more predictable.
Impact on Regular Users
For everyday users, gas fees are expected to become more stable and predictable, while dApp interactions may become faster due to parallel execution. Validators and stakers will benefit from a more decentralized block construction process that reduces reliance on complex infrastructure. Developers can leverage BALs to optimize smart contract performance and build more efficient decentralized applications.