Ethereum Glamsterdam upgrade moves towards a roadmap for a gas limit of 200 million
TL; DR
- Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade work is proceeding through devnet planning ahead of an expected mainnet window in the second half of 2026.
- EIP-7732, or the Codified Proposal-Builder Separation, is one of the most important components followed by developers.
- EIP-7928, which covers block-level access lists, is another important component related to parallel execution and higher throughput.
- The main goal is a path to a much higher gas limit, but the exact mainnet package remains subject to Ethereum’s normal testing and governance process.
Glamsterdam comes into view
Ethereum’s next major upgrade cycle now focuses on Glamsterdam, a protocol suite expected to define the network’s roadmap for post-Pectra scaling and block production. The upgrade is being closely watched because it hits two of Ethereum’s biggest long-standing limitations: who builds blocks and how much execution capacity the base layer can safely support.
Developer materials and EIP discussions point to entrenched submitter-builder separation and block-level access lists as two of the most important items in the Glamsterdam conversation. Together, they help chart a longer-term path to higher throughput, without simply asking each node operator to absorb more load without structural changes.
What ePBS is trying to solve
EIP-7732, commonly described as an entrenched separation between proposer and builder, would shift some of the current external block building market to Ethereum’s protocol design. Nowadays, the construction of blocks often depends on external relay infrastructure and specialized actors. That system has helped the network manage the maximum recoverable value, but it has also raised concerns about centralization and censorship pressure.
By moving the separation between proposer and builder closer to the protocol layer, Ethereum developers aim to reduce dependence on schemes outside the protocol and create a cleaner separation between validators that propose blocks and builders that assemble them. It’s a technical change, but it also speaks directly to Ethereum’s decentralization goals.
Why block-level access lists are important
EIP-7928, which covers block-level access lists, is intended to make execution more predictable by identifying block-level state access patterns. In plain English, validators and clients could get better information about what a block needs to touch before it is processed. This is important because parallel execution is difficult if the system does not know which transactions are likely to conflict.
If block-level access lists work as intended, they can help Ethereum handle more activity without making each block a heavier, less predictable burden on nodes. That’s why the proposal is often discussed alongside higher gas limit targets and broader L1 scaling.
A gas limit of 200 million is the big headline
The most striking part of the Glamsterdam story is the possible path to a gas limit of 200 million. That would be a large increase over current base layer capacity and would represent a very different Ethereum L1 if it can be achieved safely. But the wording matters: this is a roadmap and test target, not a guarantee that every detail for mainnet is locked down exactly as discussed in the current devnet material.
Ethereum upgrades usually go through a long process of specification, client implementation, devnets, testnets, and final coordination. That process is slow by design. Glamsterdam is important because it shows that the network is still trying to scale the base layer itself and not just push activity to rollups. The risk is that aggressive capacity increases without careful client and node work could weaken the decentralization properties that Ethereum is trying to protect.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.