Ethereum's Glamsterdam Upgrade Nears Sepolia Test as Researcher Flags Key Progress

Ethereum's upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade has entered a pivotal testing phase, with activation on the Sepolia public testnet scheduled for October 6 at 13:53 UTC, according to the upgrade specification. A mainnet launch date has not been set, and developers have also yet to schedule activation on the Hoodi test network, leaving the broader rollout dependent on client-team decisions and additional testing. Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said on X that development progress is encouraging, highlighting EIP7928, the proposal introducing BlockLevel Access Lists. He noted the work is nearing its final stretch, though testing remains to be completed. He also expects Glamsterdam to rank among Ethereum's largest upgrades, with the Sepolia deployment serving as the next public checkpoint to validate performance and readiness. Glamsterdam is designed to tackle three related constraints as Ethereum seeks higher throughput: improving how efficiently nodes process work, supporting more network activity, and keeping database growth sustainable as capacity expands. These goals directly affect the hardware and software requirements for running a node. At the center of the effort, EIP7928 would provide nodes with a record of which accounts and storage locations are accessed during block execution, along with the resulting state changes. That information could enable nodes to identify independent transactions and process them in parallel, rather than sequentially as is often necessary today when dependencies are unknown in advance. The access lists could also streamline data retrieval and state updates, supporting faster validation and quicker node synchronization. The proposal is still under review and would need successful implementation and testing for inclusion. Another major element, enshrined proposer-builder separation, would alter how Ethereum produces and validates blocks by embedding that separation into the protocol. Developers say the change is intended to reduce reliance on external intermediaries. The upgrade also includes planned adjustments to the costs of creating permanent data on Ethereum, aiming to keep long-term database growth manageable as capacity rises and to preserve the ability to run nodes on accessible hardware. With Sepolia set to activate multiple coordinated changes rather than a single scaling tweak, the October 6 test will be a key data point for subsequent activation decisions. Mainnet timing remains undecided. The post Ethereum Researcher Signals Glamsterdam Progress as Sepolia Test Nears appeared first on 36Crypto.