Ethereum developers are entering the final stretch of work on Glamsterdam, the network’s next major upgrade, as teams begin testing a version of the fork in a closed environment.
Ethereum, the world’s second-largest blockchain by market capitalization, is approaching a pivotal moment in its technical evolution. Developers have officially entered the final development phase of “Glamsterdam,” a protocol upgrade that insiders describe as one of the most significant since the network transitioned to proof-of-stake during the Merge in 2022. The milestone was marked by the launch of private devnets that include all Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) slated for the upgrade, allowing core developers to test the changes in a controlled environment before rolling them out to public testnets.
According to multiple developer updates, the Glamsterdam upgrade packages several long-awaited features designed to improve scalability, security, and user experience. Among the most anticipated EIPs is one that introduces native account abstraction, enabling more flexible transaction validation and potentially simplifying wallet interactions for everyday users. Another key proposal aims to reduce gas costs for layer-2 rollups, further aligning with Ethereum’s roadmap to scale through off-chain solutions.
The upgrade’s name, Glamsterdam, follows Ethereum’s tradition of naming significant forks after cities or conference locations. Previous major upgrades include the Shapella fork (Shanghai + Capella) in 2023, which allowed staked ETH withdrawals, and the Dencun upgrade in 2024, which introduced proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) to dramatically lower layer-2 fees. Glamsterdam is expected to be deployed on the mainnet in the second half of 2026, though developers caution that the timeline could shift depending on findings during the current testing phase.
“We are at a critical juncture,” said a core developer who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the work. “The devnets allow us to simulate mainnet conditions and identify any potential issues before we expose the upgrade to real assets. If everything goes smoothly, we can move to the Sepolia and Holesky testnets within a few weeks.”
The Glamsterdam upgrade builds on the momentum of previous Ethereum forks but distinguishes itself by addressing some of the most persistent pain points for developers and users. Account abstraction, for instance, has been a topic of discussion since Ethereum’s early days, with various proposals like ERC-4337 offering partial solutions. Native incorporation of account abstraction into the protocol layer could eliminate the need for workarounds, making Ethereum wallets more user-friendly and enabling advanced features such as sponsored transactions and multi-signature security without reliance on third-party smart contracts.
Another critical component of Glamsterdam is the optimization of gas metering for storage operations, which is expected to lower costs for decentralized applications (dApps) that frequently write to the blockchain. This change is particularly relevant for DeFi protocols and gaming applications, where transaction costs can accumulate quickly. Developers have also hinted at improvements to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) that will allow for more efficient execution of certain types of smart contracts, potentially unlocking new use cases in areas like artificial intelligence and on-chain data analysis.
To understand the significance of Glamsterdam, it helps to look at Ethereum’s recent history. The Merge in 2022 replaced the energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus with proof-of-stake, reducing the network’s energy consumption by 99.9%. The subsequent Shapella upgrade allowed validators to unstake their ETH, providing liquidity to the staking ecosystem. In 2024, the Dencun upgrade introduced proto-danksharding, which slashed fees on layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism by orders of magnitude, leading to a surge in activity on these scaling solutions.
However, layer-1 execution costs remain high for certain operations, and the user experience on Ethereum’s base layer still lags behind newer blockchains that prioritize simplicity. Glamsterdam aims to close this gap by making the base layer more efficient and accessible. For example, the account abstraction proposals could allow users to pay transaction fees in ERC-20 tokens rather than solely in ETH, a feature that has been available on some competitor networks for years.
The upgrade also addresses validator economics. One proposed EIP adjusts the reward structure for certain types of attestations, aiming to incentivize better network participation and reduce the risk of centralization among large staking pools. With over 34 million ETH currently staked (approximately 28% of the total supply), maintaining a healthy and decentralized validator set is a top priority for the Ethereum Foundation.
Outside the technical details, the Glamsterdam upgrade has drawn attention from the broader crypto community as a test of Ethereum’s ability to innovate without sacrificing stability. Critics have pointed to the prolonged development cycles and the increasing complexity of the codebase as potential vulnerabilities. Proponents counter that Ethereum’s careful, research-driven approach ensures that upgrades are thoroughly vetted before deployment.
The private devnets currently running are expected to operate for several weeks, after which the code will be frozen for public testnet deployment. If all goes according to plan, the mainnet activation could occur in late Q3 or early Q4 2026. Ethereum’s price has remained relatively stable in anticipation of the upgrade, with ETH trading around $3,400 as of mid-June 2026, reflecting cautious optimism among investors.
Beyond the immediate technical changes, Glamsterdam is seen as a stepping stone toward Ethereum’s longer-term vision of “The Surge” and “The Verge” phases outlined in the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap. The Surge focuses on achieving over 100,000 transactions per second through sharding and rollups, while The Verge aims to implement stateless clients to improve decentralization. Glamsterdam’s improvements to the EVM and storage metering lay the groundwork for these more ambitious upgrades.
In summary, Ethereum enters the final development stage of Glamsterdam with a clear set of objectives: enhance user experience through native account abstraction, reduce costs for developers and traders, and strengthen the network’s economic security. The coming weeks of testing will be crucial in determining whether these objectives can be realized without introducing unforeseen bugs or regressions. For now, the Ethereum community watches with bated breath as one of the network’s biggest overhauls in years moves closer to reality.
Source: Coindesk News