Ethereum Glamsterdam Upgrade Nears Sepolia Test as EIP-7928 Advances
Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade is approaching a major testing milestone, with the upgrade scheduled to activate on the Sepolia testnet on October 6. Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said development is progressing well, particularly on EIP-7928, the proposal for Block-Level Access Lists.
Wahrstätter said work on EIP-7928 is nearing its final stage, although developers still need to complete testing before the proposal can move forward. The update comes as Ethereum developers prepare to evaluate Glamsterdam on a public test network.
According to the upgrade specification, Sepolia is scheduled to activate Glamsterdam at 13:53 UTC on October 6. No activation dates have been established yet for the Hoodi testnet or Ethereum mainnet. Those decisions will depend on further testing and coordination among Ethereum client teams.
Wahrstätter has described Glamsterdam as potentially one of Ethereum’s largest upgrades and said he expects the extended development process to be worthwhile. The upcoming Sepolia deployment will provide an important opportunity to test that progress under network conditions before broader activation decisions are made.
Ethereum Glamsterdam Targets Network Capacity and Node Efficiency
Glamsterdam is designed around several changes intended to improve Ethereum’s ability to process activity while managing the technical burden placed on network operators.
One of its central components is EIP-7928, which would introduce Block-Level Access Lists containing information about the accounts and storage locations accessed during block execution, along with the resulting state changes.
The proposed system could allow nodes to identify transaction dependencies before execution and process independent work in parallel. Ethereum nodes currently tend to execute transactions sequentially because those dependencies are not known in advance.
If implemented successfully, Block-Level Access Lists could also help nodes retrieve required data and update their records more efficiently. The changes are intended to support faster validation and synchronization, although EIP-7928 remains subject to implementation and testing.
Another major component of Glamsterdam is enshrined proposer-builder separation, which would move the separation of block-building and proposing responsibilities into Ethereum’s protocol. The change is intended to reduce the network’s reliance on external mechanisms for block production.
Glamsterdam also includes adjustments to the costs associated with creating permanent data on Ethereum. These changes are aimed at controlling database growth as network capacity expands, helping maintain reasonable hardware requirements for node operators.
The October 6 Sepolia activation will therefore test multiple components of the upgrade rather than a single scaling change. Results from the public testnet are expected to contribute to subsequent decisions on Hoodi and eventually Ethereum mainnet, although no mainnet activation date has been announced.
Writer: Marcus RenfieldCrypto Market Analyst & Onchain WriterMarcus Renfield covers cryptocurrency markets with a focus on onchain data, Bitcoin price action, and emerging market narratives. His writing examines how capital flows, network activity, and broader market structure influence short- and medium-term trends.He aims to provide clear, data-informed analysis for readers seeking a deeper understanding of crypto market dynamics.