Ethereum Glamsterdam Upgrade Delayed: Why the October 26 Hoodi Launch Was Pulled

Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade was set to go live on the Hoodi testnet on October 26, 2026, at 17:42:48 UTC, but developers postponed it on October 22.

The delay came after security firm ChainSecurity warned that EIP-8037, a gas repricing change, could let attackers grief some existing smart contracts. It found 13 potentially affected contracts on mainnet.

No new Hoodi date has been set, and the planned increase in Hoodi's gas limit to 200 million was also removed.

Early December mainnet dates that developers had been discussing now look uncertain, since Hoodi must be revalidated first.

ETH holders do not need to take any action. ETH trades near $2,332, down about 3.4% on the week.

 

 

Today was supposed to be a big day for Ethereum. Glamsterdam, the network's next major upgrade, was scheduled to activate on the Hoodi testnet at 17:42:48 UTC on October 26, 2026, the final public test before mainnet. Instead, Ethereum core developers pulled the launch just four days earlier after a security review raised concerns about one of its gas changes.

The delay does not mean Glamsterdam is broken, and the Ethereum Foundation says mainnet users need not do anything. But it does push back the timeline for one of Ethereum's most ambitious upgrades. Here is what Glamsterdam is, why it was delayed and what it could mean for the Ethereum price.

 

Glamsterdam combines two upgrades: Amsterdam on Ethereum's execution layer and Gloas on the consensus layer. According to the Ethereum Foundation, it bundles 18 main Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). Two of them are the headline changes:

EIP-7732, enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS): Today, validators usually buy finished blocks from specialist builders through middlemen called relays, and about 88% of Ethereum blocks flow through this MEV-Boost setup. ePBS writes that handoff into Ethereum's own rules, so the protocol, not a trusted relay, enforces the deal.

EIP-7928, block-level access lists (BALs): Each block carries a map of the accounts and storage it touches. That lets nodes process transactions in parallel and is a key step toward raising the gas limit from about 60 million toward 200 million.

Glamsterdam also reprices several operations. EIP-8037 raises the gas cost of creating new state, such as new accounts and storage slots, while EIP-8038 updates the cost of accessing state.

The upgrade went live on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, where it ran without incident and tested a 200 million gas limit.

 

On October 13, audit firm ChainSecurity published an analysis of EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. It warned that together they could weaken defenses against "insufficient gas griefing," where a malicious caller sends just enough gas to make part of a transaction fail.

Under the new rules, some gas can be returned after an operation fails, so a contract may keep running where it previously would have stopped. In certain designs, that could let a contract permanently record a failed action, delete a user's claim or disable a retry option. ChainSecurity later found 13 real-world contracts on mainnet that could be affected and began responsible disclosure with the projects involved. Reports note that no exploitation of a major production protocol has been shown publicly.

Security researcher pcaversaccio called the risks "serious" in an October 21 GitHub comment and urged developers to reassess the fork.

At All Core Developers Execution call #248 on October 22, developers decided to postpone the Hoodi activation to further investigate how EIP-8037 interacts with mainnet smart contracts. The Ethereum Foundation updated its announcement the same day, confirming that the October 26 activation and the planned 200 million gas limit increase were both cancelled. No replacement date has been set.

 

Glamsterdam has never had a confirmed mainnet date, and the Ethereum Foundation still lists it as TBD. However, an October 22 developer agenda had listed December 1, 8 and 9 as candidate mainnet dates, according to reporting by BigGo Finance. Those dates now look uncertain.

Before a new mainnet date can be considered, several steps need to happen:

Client teams must ship releases that remove the old Hoodi schedule.

The 13 flagged contracts need fixes, and EIP-8037 may be revised.

Developers must set a new Hoodi date and successfully test the upgrade there.

The mainnet target had already slipped once, from the first half of 2026 to the fourth quarter. Another delay into 2027 is now possible, though developers have not announced one.

 

ETH holders: No action is needed. The Ethereum Foundation says the update requires nothing from mainnet users or ETH holders, and Hoodi's chain history is unaffected.

Node operators: Hoodi operators should check that their clients no longer carry the cancelled October 26 schedule. Reports note that nodes running Besu 26.10.0 would still activate the upgrade until they install a newer release.

Developers: Teams should review contracts that rely on fixed gas stipends, hardcoded gas limits or checks on remaining gas, since these are the patterns most exposed to the new gas rules.

 

The delay has not sparked a major selloff. ETH traded near $2,332 on October 25, down about 3.4% over the week, in line with a broader crypto pullback as Bitcoin dipped toward $80,000. US spot Ether ETFs recorded about $110.6 million in outflows on Friday.

Longer-term signals look steadier. Staked ETH hit a record 43.8 million at the end of September, about 35.9% of supply, according to a Bitwise report.

$2,350: Near-term support. A break below it could put $2,200 in focus, especially if Bitcoin falls below $80,000.

$2,444 and $2,520: The next resistance levels on the way back toward $2,600.

Fed week: The October 28 Fed decision is likely to move ETH more than Glamsterdam this week.

 

 

Separate the news from the price: Testnet delays rarely change Ethereum's fundamentals overnight, and macro events often matter more.

Watch the next developer calls: A new Hoodi date would be the first sign that mainnet is back on track.

Use risk controls: MEXC's TP/SL tools help you set exit levels ahead of volatile events.

Stay informed: Follow our Ethereum news coverage for Glamsterdam updates.

 

Pulling Glamsterdam from Hoodi days before launch shows Ethereum's developers choosing caution over speed. The upgrade's core features, ePBS and block-level access lists, are still on track, but a gas rule that could expose existing contracts to griefing needs to be resolved first.

For traders, the delay is unlikely to drive ETH on its own this week. The Fed decision and broader market sentiment matter more in the short term. The next signal to watch is a new Hoodi date, which would put Glamsterdam back on the path to mainnet.

 

Disclaimer: This content is for educational and reference purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. Digital asset investments carry high risk. Please evaluate carefully and assume full responsibility for your own decisions.