How Will Ethereum's Glamsterdam Upgrade Improve Layer-1 Throughput and Gas Costs? | Protocol Architecture

How Will Ethereum's Glamsterdam Upgrade Improve Layer-1 Throughput and Gas Costs?

The Glamsterdam upgrade improves Ethereum's Layer-1 throughput by increasing the gas limit target from 60M to 200M and introducing parallel execution via Block-Level Access Lists (BALs). These architectural shifts are projected to reduce Layer-1 gas costs by approximately 78.6% while pushing network capacity toward a 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) milestone.

As of July 2026, the Ethereum network is transitioning from the foundational refinements of the Fusaka upgrade to the high-performance era of Glamsterdam. This hard fork represents the most significant structural change to the Execution Layer (EL) since The Merge. By decoupling state creation from execution gas and enshrining Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) directly into the protocol, Ethereum is effectively removing the "sequential bottleneck" that has historically limited its scalability. For institutional participants and high-frequency traders on platforms like WEEX Futures, this translates to faster finality and more predictable slippage during periods of extreme market volatility.

What Are the Core Technical Pillars of the Glamsterdam Upgrade?

The Glamsterdam upgrade is built upon three primary Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs): EIP-7732 for Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation, EIP-7928 for Block-Level Access Lists, and EIP-7904 for gas repricing. Together, these proposals transition Ethereum from a single-threaded execution model to a multi-threaded, parallelized environment capable of handling institutional-grade throughput.

Historically, Ethereum nodes had to process transactions one by one to ensure the state remained consistent. Glamsterdam changes this by requiring transactions to declare which parts of the "state" (accounts or contracts) they will interact with before execution. This allows the network to process non-conflicting transactions simultaneously. Furthermore, by moving the block-building process on-chain through EIP-7732, the network reduces the influence of external MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) relays, which previously added latency and centralization risks to the block production pipeline.

How Does EIP-7928 Enable 10,000 TPS Through Parallel Execution?

EIP-7928 introduces Block-Level Access Lists (BALs), which serve as a "pre-flight map" for the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), allowing it to identify which transactions can be executed in parallel. By organizing transactions into independent streams, the network can utilize multi-core processing across its global validator set, effectively raising the throughput ceiling to 10,000 TPS.

Under the current sequential model, if Transaction A and Transaction B do not interact with the same smart contract, they still have to wait for each other in the queue. With BALs, a "fingerprint" or hash record of the required state access is stored in the block header. This allows validators to distribute the execution load across multiple threads. For decentralized finance (DeFi) users, this means that a heavy NFT minting event in one corner of the ecosystem will no longer necessarily spike gas prices for simple ETH transfers or stablecoin swaps elsewhere.

Why Will Gas Costs Drop by Nearly 80% After the Upgrade?

Gas costs will drop by approximately 78.6% due to EIP-7904, which recalibrates the resource pricing for EVM opcodes and decouples state growth from execution costs. By incentivizing developers to write "leaner" code and optimizing how the network handles data "blobs," Glamsterdam significantly lowers the economic barrier to entry for Layer-1 interactions.

The reduction is not merely a result of increasing the gas limit; it is a fundamental repricing of how the network values its resources. In the 2026 landscape, the "State"—the massive database of all Ethereum accounts—has become the primary bottleneck. Glamsterdam introduces a mechanism where "The State" is managed more efficiently, allowing for a massive scale-up in compute without bloating the database. This is particularly beneficial for complex smart contracts, such as those used in cross-chain liquidity aggregation and tokenized real-world assets (RWA). Users executing trades on WEEX Spot will benefit from lower withdrawal and deposit fees as the underlying L1 settlement becomes more efficient.

How Does Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) Protect Users?

Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), introduced via EIP-7732, formalizes the division of labor between validators who propose blocks and specialized actors who build them, moving this process directly into the Ethereum protocol. This reduces MEV-related centralization and extends the data propagation window from 2 seconds to 9 seconds, ensuring a more stable and resilient network.

Before Glamsterdam, block building relied on third-party software like MEV-Boost. This created a "dark forest" where sophisticated bots could front-run retail transactions, leading to "invisible taxes" in the form of slippage. By enshrining this separation:

• Transparency: The builder market becomes trust-minimized and competitive.
• Efficiency: Validators no longer need to manage complex external integrations to remain profitable.
• Security: The 9-second propagation window reduces the risk of "orphaned blocks," which occurs when data doesn't reach nodes fast enough during high-traffic periods.

What Does Glamsterdam Mean for Layer-2 Scaling and Rollups?

While Glamsterdam focuses on Layer-1 scaling, it provides a massive boost to Layer-2 (L2) networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base by expanding "blob" capacity and reducing the cost of L1 data settlement. This synergy ensures that while the L1 becomes more capable, the L2 ecosystem remains the primary destination for retail-scale microtransactions.

The "Scale Blobs" objective within Glamsterdam allows L2s to post significantly more data to the mainnet at a fraction of the current cost. In the 2026 roadmap, Ethereum is positioning itself as the "Global Settlement Layer," where the L1 handles high-value, high-security transactions and L2 data roots, while the L2s handle the bulk of consumer activity. The increased L1 throughput ensures that even as hundreds of new AppChains and Rollups emerge, the base layer will not become a congested bottleneck.

How to Prepare for the Glamsterdam Hard Fork in Q3 2026?

Users and developers should prepare for the Glamsterdam hard fork by ensuring their node software is updated to the latest client releases (such as Geth, Nethermind, or Besu) and auditing smart contracts for compatibility with the new gas repricing models. For most holders, no manual action is required as the transition will occur seamlessly at the protocol level.

Developers, however, should pay close attention to the new "Access List" requirements. To take full advantage of parallel execution, dApps will need to be optimized to provide accurate state-access hints. Failure to do so may result in transactions being relegated to the "slow lane" of sequential execution. For traders on WEEX TradFi, the upgrade will likely result in tighter spreads for tokenized equities, as the underlying on-chain settlement costs for these RWA instruments decrease, allowing market makers to operate with higher capital efficiency.

Conclusion: Ethereum’s Path Toward the Hegotá Upgrade

The Glamsterdam upgrade is a pivotal moment in the 2026 Ethereum roadmap, proving that the network can scale its base layer without sacrificing decentralization. By achieving a 10,000 TPS target and slashing fees by nearly 80%, Ethereum is effectively neutralizing the "high gas" narrative that has persisted for years. As the community looks toward the subsequent Hegotá hard fork, the focus will shift even further toward quantum-readiness and advanced zero-knowledge integration, solidifying Ethereum's role as the foundational infrastructure for the future of global finance.