Ethereum’s Glamsterdam Upgrade
Hasu, a notable advisor for Lido, has revealed that Ethereum’s upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade is set to dramatically enhance its gas limit, elevating it from the current level of 60 million to an impressive 200 million. This change signifies that Layer 1 (L1) execution capabilities will surge by over three times, with expectations for this capacity to further double in the near future.
Key Changes in Gas Pricing
The Glamsterdam upgrade involves several important alterations to the Execution Layer (EL) gas pricing, effectively aligning fees with the actual resource consumption observed during periods of high activity. A key element of this update is EIP-8037, which aims to increase the costs associated with state creation. This adjustment is essential to prevent unlimited state expansion even as the gas limit rises.
Impact on Transaction Costs
In a recent tweet, Hasu emphasized that, if network demand doesn’t experience a comparable rise, transaction costs on the Ethereum mainnet could remain close to zero for the foreseeable future. “It is noteworthy that not many are aware: following Glamsterdam, Ethereum’s gas limit is anticipated to reach around 200 million, which is a significant increase from today’s 60 million. This is more than a threefold increase in the L1 execution capacity, with a likelihood of further doubling soon after,” Hasu stated.
Developer Collaboration
Over the past week, a remarkable gathering of over 100 Ethereum core developers convened in the remote location of Longyearbyen, situated above the Arctic Circle, for the Soldøgn Interop event. Their focus was on the Glamsterdam upgrade, striving to achieve three primary objectives:
- Solidifying a post-upgrade gas limit floor of 200 million
- Implementing stable ePBS systems that can operate alongside external builders
- Finalizing the repricing proposals outlined in EIP-8037
Challenges and Innovations
In addition to these crucial tasks, significant strides were made in refining the features related to Hegotá, including FOCIL and the introduction of native account abstraction, among other initiatives. The undertaking of increasing the gas limit suitably presents multiple challenges, and Glamsterdam addresses a variety of these issues, such as the construction and proposal processes of blocks, the capacity of client implementations to manage load, and the scalability of state-creation costs in relation to throughput.
