Ethereum's Glamsterdam Upgrade Passes Key Test Ahead of Sepolia Launch

Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade continued confirming blocks after adopting new block-building rules this week, passing a key test that paves the way for a planned launch on the Sepolia public testnet on October 6. According to ChainCatcher, Nethermind also completed performance testing for one of Glamsterdam's biggest changes, passing all 2,302 tests and processing 57.07 billion gas in 3 minutes and 15 seconds, or about 2.9 billion gas per second on average. The benchmark measured Nethermind's execution software rather than the speed of the entire network and tested block-level access lists. The mechanism tells Ethereum nodes in advance which accounts and storage data a block will use, allowing nodes to fetch data in parallel and check unrelated transactions, while Ethereum currently handles much of this work sequentially, limiting activity per block. About one hour after the testnet launch, Glamsterdam raised the block gas limit from 60 million to 200 million, creating room for more payments, token swaps, and other activity in each block. The higher limit could help Ethereum absorb more activity before users begin bidding for block space, easing fee spikes during transaction surges or popular token launches. Larger blocks are also harder to verify and could make it more difficult for smaller operators to keep up. Glamsterdam aims to add capacity without making the chain too costly to run. The upgrade will also extend block data propagation time from about 2 seconds to 9 seconds and plans to bring the handoff between block building and validation, as well as payments, into Ethereum's own rules, reducing reliance on external relay services.