Ethereum Glamsterdam Upgrade: Sepolia Test Moves to Oct 6
Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade will hit the Sepolia testnet on 6 October, not 28 September. Mainnet is aimed at December. Here are the dates and what changes.
Ethereum's next big upgrade, Glamsterdam, is in its final stretch, but it needs a little more time. Developers have tentatively set the Sepolia testnet fork for 6 October 2026 at 13:53 UTC (7:23 pm IST). An earlier plan had pencilled in 28 September. The mainnet launch is aimed at December, with no official date yet.
Key takeaways
- Sepolia fork: tentatively 6 October 2026, 13:53 UTC. The earlier 28 September date has been dropped.
- Hoodi, the second testnet, has no date yet; developers want to wait a few more weeks.
- Mainnet target: December 2026, not confirmed.
- Headline changes: block-level access lists (EIP-7928) for parallel processing, and enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS).
- Recent test networks hit bugs, so the dates may still move.
Why the date moved
Ethereum upgrades go through a series of test networks before reaching the main chain. The latest ones have shown problems. On Devnet-9, the network was not finalising because too few validators were proposing and attesting correctly. On Devnet-8, developers found a bug where a validator proposing a block with the same hash as its parent could freeze the whole network. A change to gas costs for creating new state (EIP-8037) also needs every execution client to update.
Developer Stefan Starflinger said testing had shown "quite a few edge cases and issues". Parithosh Jayanti, who ran the call that set the dates, said the team would take things "case by case" if the next test network also fails. Consensys developer Enrico del Fante recommended waiting a few more weeks before fixing a date for Hoodi.
What Glamsterdam changes
Glamsterdam has three main goals: process transactions faster, raise capacity, and stop the database from growing out of control.
- Block-level access lists (EIP-7928): each block lists in advance which accounts and storage it touches, so nodes can process many transactions at the same time instead of one by one.
- Enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS): moves the split between the validators who propose blocks and the specialists who build them into the protocol itself, instead of relying on outside relays.
- Faster syncing for new nodes, through a new snap sync version.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter expects a "significant throughput increase thanks to parallelism" and called it potentially "one of the biggest forks seen yet". It also prepares the ground for Hegota, the 2027 upgrade that Vitalik Buterin expects to be Ethereum's last "normal" fork (see Vitalik's 2030 roadmap).
Do ETH holders need to do anything?
No. If you hold ETH on an exchange or in a normal wallet, the upgrade happens in the background. Your coins do not change and there is no new token to claim. Be wary of anyone asking you to "upgrade" or "migrate" your ETH: that is a common scam around every fork. People who run their own nodes or validators will need to update their software before mainnet activation.
Upgrades can move the price in the run-up, but the effect is usually short-lived. ETH trades at about ₹255,983 ($2,667.05) right now; follow it on our Ethereum price in INR page. New to the network? Read what Ethereum is.
FAQ
When is the Glamsterdam upgrade?
Sepolia testnet on 6 October 2026 (tentative), then Hoodi, then mainnet, which developers are targeting for December 2026.
What does Glamsterdam do?
It lets Ethereum process transactions in parallel, raises capacity and builds proposer-builder separation into the protocol.
Do I need to do anything with my ETH?
No. Holders do not need to act. Ignore any message asking you to swap or migrate ETH for the upgrade.
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