Key points

  • The Glamsterdam development network continued confirming blocks after adopting new block-building rules.
  • Nethermind completed 2,302 block-level access-list tests, processing 570.7 billion gas in three minutes and 15 seconds.
  • A 200 million block gas limit was tested, but it is not yet a commitment for Ethereum mainnet.

Ethereum developers have cleared another rehearsal for the planned Glamsterdam network upgrade, with the latest development network continuing to confirm blocks after switching to new block-building rules. The milestone gives client teams more evidence that two of the upgrade's largest architectural changes can operate together before testing moves to a public network. Ethereum's official roadmap lists a proposed October 6 fork on Sepolia as the next milestone, while the mainnet date remains unconfirmed.

A capacity test, not a mainnet launch

The controlled Devnet-11 rehearsal raised its block gas limit from 60 million to 200 million about an hour after launch, according to CoinDesk. Gas measures the amount of computing work that transactions can consume in a block. A higher ceiling can fit more payments, swaps and contract calls before users compete for limited space, but it also increases the work required from the computers that verify each block. The 200 million setting is a test parameter, not a confirmed mainnet target at activation.

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Nethermind completes 2,302 tests

Nethermind's execution client completed all 2,302 performance tests in a separate benchmark, processing 570.7 billion gas in three minutes and 15 seconds, or about 2.9 billion gas per second on average. That result measures one client implementation under benchmark conditions rather than the throughput of the full Ethereum network. It therefore shows software progress, not a promise about how many transactions mainnet will process or how much fees will fall.

Block-level access lists prepare parallel work

One central feature is EIP-7928, which adds block-level access lists. These lists describe the accounts and stored data that transactions will touch before nodes execute the block. With that map available in advance, clients can fetch unrelated data in parallel instead of discovering every dependency sequentially. Ethereum's roadmap says the change also supports faster syncing because nodes can use recorded post-execution values rather than replaying every transaction solely to reconstruct state.

Block building moves closer to the protocol

Glamsterdam also includes EIP-7732, known as enshrined proposer-builder separation. It brings the handoff between block builders and validators into Ethereum's protocol rather than relying entirely on external relay infrastructure. The official roadmap says the design expands the block-data propagation window from roughly two seconds to about nine seconds. More time to distribute and check data is intended to help the network handle larger payloads without forcing smaller operators out.

Public testing is the next checkpoint

The latest devnet was a controlled rehearsal and was not designed around deliberate attacks, so broader public testing remains important. Ethereum's roadmap currently identifies Sepolia on October 6 as the next planned fork, but the date still requires formal confirmation. Application developers, staking providers and client teams will use the public test to look for interoperability failures, unexpected resource demands and software assumptions that break under the new rules.

What remains uncertain

Ethereum.org places Glamsterdam in testing and says mainnet is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026 without a confirmed date. The final operational gas limit can still differ from the devnet setting, and client performance will need to remain consistent across diverse hardware and software combinations. A successful rehearsal reduces implementation risk, but it does not eliminate it. The decisive evidence will come from public testnet stability, finalized client releases and a formally scheduled mainnet activation.

Sources

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