Ethereum Delays Glamsterdam Testnet Upgrade Over Smart Contract Risks

Ethereum’s next network upgrade, Glamsterdam, isn’t all set for mainnet, and its Hoodi testnet wedding rehearsal is on hold. The blocker is a gas modification inside the release, EIP-8037, which reprices what it costs to produce brand-new state on the chain, and core designers desire more proof that existing mainnet agreements can endure it before they turn the switch.

Since the Ethereum Foundation’s November 6, 2026 upgrade, there is no Hoodi activation date and no Glamsterdam mainnet date. Whatever else is clearer: what the upgrade packages, why one piece of it stopped briefly the trial run, and what, if anything, you require to do about it.

Secret Facts

Glamsterdam integrates the Amsterdam execution-layer upgrade with the Gloas consensus-layer upgrade. Its heading modifications are preserved proposer-builder separation (EIP-7732) and block-level gain access to lists (EIP-7928), per the Ethereum Foundation’s testnet statementThe upgrade triggered on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, at 13:53:36 UTC, at date 353,024, slot 11,296,768, per the very same statementCore designers postponed the Hoodi fork at ACDE # 248 on October 22, 2026, 4 days before its scheduled October 26 activation, to study how EIP-8037 communicates with mainnet clever agreements, per the Hoodi hold-up postOn November 6, 2026, the Ethereum Foundation stated AllCoreDevs would not fork Hoodi till those concerns are fixed, in a later upgradeNo action is needed from Ethereum mainnet users or ETH holders since of the Hoodi hold-up.

The Small Step Glamsterdam Removes

Preserved proposer-builder separation, or ePBS, is the modification worth describing gradually, due to the fact that it gets rid of a handoff that presently takes place outside the procedure.

A block proposer and a block home builder are different tasks, however the method one hands a block to the other leans on third-party relays and off-protocol contracts. EIP-7732 moves that handoff into Ethereum’s agreement procedure: a proposer consists of a contractor’s dedication to an execution payload, and the contractor consequently exposes that payload.

The point of moving it is trust. ethereum.org’s roadmap page states the modification eliminates off-protocol trust presumptions and the dependence on third-party relays, and presents trustless home builder payments straight into the procedure. It likewise purchases space: separating the 2 functions at the procedure level broadens the proliferation window, the time offered to spread out information throughout the network, from 2 seconds to about 9 seconds.

That additional time is what enables much bigger payloads, which is how a block-building modification ends up being an L1 scaling modification. A helpful method to envision it is a relay that presently sits in between contractor and proposer, turning over the winning block; ePBS folds that handover into the guidelines of the chain itself. The contrast stops there, due to the fact that ePBS modifications agreement behaviour, not who can construct.

What Block-Level Access Lists Change

Block-level gain access to lists, or BALs, pursue a various traffic jam: deals getting verified one after another.

EIP-7928 presents enforced lists that tape-record the accounts and storage areas accessed throughout a block, together with post-transaction state modifications. With that map in hand, customers can check out state from disk in parallel, verify deals in parallel, and calculate state roots more effectively. ethereum.org explains the impact as getting rid of consecutive processing traffic jams by supplying an in advance map of all deal dependences, setting the phase for parallel processing rather of one-by-one recognition.

There is a networking piece to match. Block Access List Exchange (eth/71, or EIP-8159) is the direct buddy to the lists and is now needed for all execution layer customers, which is indicated to make it possible for faster syncing and executionless state updates. If you develop on Ethereum, this is the part that touches your tooling most straight, although it appears like pipes.

The Gas Repricing That Paused Hoodi

Glamsterdam likewise rewords parts of the gas schedule. EIP-8037 boosts and independently meters the expense of producing state, and EIP-8038 updates state-access expenses. The intent, per the Ethereum Foundation, is gas rates that much better shows the expense of execution and state development.

The scale matters here. Ethereum is scaling towards a 200M gas limitation flooring allowed by Glamsterdam, with designers evaluating at a 150M recommendation block gas limitation to obtain precise state prices, according to ethereum.org. At that size, the Foundation says state development would end up being unsustainable without repricing it.

That repricing is what stopped the Hoodi wedding rehearsal. Core designers chose at ACDE # 248 on October 22, 2026, to postpone the formerly set up upgrade on Hoodi so they might examine how EIP-8037 engages with mainnet clever agreements. The exact same statement eliminated the gas-limit schedule that would have raised Hoodi’s gas limitation to 200M at the very same date.

The issue specifies. ChainSecurity recognized cases where a call can stop working and the agreement that made it can still finish its failure handler, whereas under the earlier gas guidelines the exact same course may have triggered the external deal to go back. Designers are examining presumptions throughout customer executions and existing agreements, with ChainSecurity, Dedaub and internal customers contributing.

The Foundation’s November 6, 2026 upgrade deserves pricing quote straight: “Based on these findings, ACD has decided to delay the hardfork process and not fork Hoodi until the issues are resolved.” It likewise suggests that ACD wait “until the audit findings are public and there has been time to review them before deciding whether to revise the specifications or when to schedule the Hoodi upgrade.” To assist outsiders examine their own code, the Foundation established a repository listing 8 invariants that will be broken by Glamsterdam.

What Developers Should Test, and What Users Can Ignore

Application designers need to check agreements and gas evaluation versus the brand-new Glamsterdam gas guidelines. Agreements that count on set gas stipends, hardcoded gas limitations, or presumptions about staying gas might require modifications. That is the useful order of business; the timing is the open part.

For everybody else, the Hoodi post ponement is peaceful. The statement issues Hoodi, and no action is needed from Ethereum mainnet users or ETH holders as an outcome of the upgrade. The hold-up likewise does not set a Glamsterdam mainnet activation date.

The Dated Steps So Far

September 17, 2026: Ethereum blog sites the Glamsterdam testnet strategy, calling the package and its heading modifications.October 6, 2026, 13:53:36 UTC: Glamsterdam triggers on Sepolia at date 353,024, slot 11,296,768.October 22, 2026: ACDE # 248 hold-ups the Hoodi activation and drops the 200M gas-limit schedule that would have included it.October 26, 2026, 17:42:48 UTC: the initial Hoodi slot, date 132,352, slot 4,235,264, passes without the fork.November 6, 2026: the Ethereum Foundation keeps Hoodi on hold up until the evaluation concerns are solved, and keeps in mind that deal with Hegota continues in parallel.

Status since November 6, 2026.

What Would Change the Answer, and When

Hoodi has no brand-new date. ethereum.org lists mainnet implementation just as anticipated in Q4 2026 with the date not yet validated, and the Hoodi hold-up post clearly does not set a mainnet activation date. The scope of Glamsterdam is frozen however can still alter before mainnet, due to the fact that the meta EIP stays in draft. The roadmap page evaluated likewise noted the Hoodi fork as the next turning point at October 27, 2026, a date the October 22 hold-up has considering that overtaken.

One caution worth flagging: throughput and fee-reduction claims distribute in third-party explainers, however they do not appear in the Ethereum Foundation, ethereum.org or GitHub pages evaluated here, so treat them as unproven. The mechanics that are recorded, ePBS, block-level gain access to lists and the gas repricing, are the ones you can examine versus the main sources above.

What would move this forward specifies and outdated. Dedaub and ChainSecurity reports was because of be released on November 13, 2026, and their contents are not yet validated. A November 16 ACDT call and a November 19 ACDE call are the next set up checkpoints. A choice to modify the EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 specs, or a brand-new Hoodi activation date, would be the signal that the hold has actually raised. Up until then, the sincere status is the one the Foundation provided: survive on Sepolia, on hold for Hoodi, and not yet set up for mainnet.