Ethereum activated the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Sepolia testnet on Tuesday at 13:53 UTC at epoch 353,024. This is one of the final major runs before mainnet activation.

ePBS and BAL: scaling changes for L1

The update advances the layer 1 scaling roadmap: it introduces enshrined proposer–builder separation (ePBS) and block access lists (BAL), as well as adjustments to gas pricing to better reflect execution costs. EIP-7732 implements the separation of proposer and builder roles at the consensus layer and separates consensus validation from execution validation, giving validators more time to check execution payloads. EIP-7928 introduces mandatory block access lists, recording accounts and storage areas accessed in a block, as well as post-transaction state changes. This allows clients to read state from disk and validate transactions in parallel, calculating state roots more efficiently.

Parallel processing for higher throughput

Currently, Ethereum operates in a "single-lane" mode, processing transactions in a single order. The move to parallel processing aims to increase throughput and support larger blocks without raising the gas limit.

Glamsterdam gas limit threshold set at 200 million

In May, the Ethereum Foundation announced a minimum gas limit of 200 million for Glamsterdam—a significant increase from the current level of around 60 million.

Next steps: Hoodi and Hegotá

After the Sepolia launch, developers will set the activation date for Glamsterdam on the Hoodi testnet, followed by the final mainnet release date. Glamsterdam is the next major upgrade after Fusaka; developers will then move on to Hegotá. In August, 66 proposals were reviewed for the Hegotá scope, including initiatives to expand protocol-level privacy.