Ethereum’s next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, has landed on Sepolia, the testnet where developers put new code through its paces before it touches mainnet. The upgrade brings two headline changes: enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS) and block-level access lists (BALs).
What ePBS Does
Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation, or EIP-7732, splits block production from block validation. Block proposers build the proposal, and separate validators check it. The split gives validators more time to verify execution payloads.
What BALs Do
EIP-7928 introduces enforced block-level access lists. These lists record accounts and storage locations accessed during a block, plus post-transaction state changes. Clients can then read state from disk in parallel, validate transactions in parallel and compute state roots more efficiently.
The Gas Limit Floor
The Ethereum Foundation announced in May that it set a 200 million gas limit floor for Glamsterdam. That compares to Ethereum’s current limit of around 60 million. The upgrade promises a major speed boost once it lands on mainnet.
Parallel Processing
Parallel processing aims to enable higher transactions per second on Ethereum and bigger block sizes without raising the gas limit. The upgrade’s stated goals are scalability, hardened security and a network that is easier to use.
The Road to Hegotá
After Glamsterdam activates on mainnet, developers will move on to Hegotá, the next major upgrade. In August, Ethereum developers started reviewing 66 proposals to narrow them down as part of scoping Hegotá. Several of those proposals target privacy capabilities for the protocol.
What Comes Next
Glamsterdam’s testnet run on Sepolia is a staging ground. Once the upgrade clears that hurdle, the focus shifts to mainnet activation. From there, Hegotá follows.
| Upgrade | Key Change | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Glamsterdam | ePBS + BALs | Sepolia testnet |
| Hegotá | Privacy proposals | Mainnet |
The upgrade’s stated goals are clear: scalability, hardened security and a network that is easier to use. Whether Glamsterdam delivers on those promises depends on how it performs in testing. The foundation’s 200 million gas limit floor is a bold move, and the parallel processing model is a design goal.
Source material: “Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade launches on Sepolia testnet,” Cointelegraph.
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