Ethereum’s next major protocol upgrade, codenamed “Glamsterdam,” is expected to ship in Q3 2026, combining elements from both the “Glamour” and “Amsterdam” development tracks. The upgrade will deliver improvements to the network’s throughput, validator economics, and privacy primitives.
Among the headline changes: EIP-7702, which allows externally owned accounts to temporarily behave as smart contracts during a transaction — a critical enabler for account abstraction. Users could batch transactions, pay gas fees in ERC-20 tokens, and use social recovery without switching wallets.
Glamsterdam also includes EIP-7840, which modifies the blob schedule to increase the target number of blobs per block from six to nine, further reducing Layer 2 data costs.
“Glamsterdam is about making Ethereum cheaper and smarter at the same time,” said Ethereum Foundation researcher Tim Beiko. A mainnet hard fork could be scheduled for September 2026. Investors have noted Ethereum has consistently outperformed other L1s in the months surrounding major upgrades.
