Ethereum's next major upgrade has a name and a number: Glamsterdam will target a 200 million gas limit floor, and the key EIP-8037 is now finalized. The protocol team is also seeing leadership changes, though the details on who's stepping up remain sparse. The upgrade, expected later this year, represents the biggest single gas limit increase Ethereum has attempted.
The 200M target
Glamsterdam aims to raise the gas limit floor to 200 million. That's roughly double the current effective cap — the network has been hovering around 30 million gas per block for years. The idea is to give the base layer more room to handle L2 rollups and other demand without forcing fees higher. It's a technical change, but one that could meaningfully reduce congestion if it holds.
EIP-8037, now finalized as part of the fork, includes the mechanics to make that floor stick. The proposal adjusts how validators propose and vote on gas limits, replacing the current soft-cap system with a more rigid minimum. It's not a hard cap — miners can still go higher — but it sets a baseline the network won't dip below.
Leadership shakeup
The Ethereum Protocol team is undergoing a reshuffle at the same time. The facts don't name the specific individuals leaving or taking over, but the timing isn't great. A major fork requires coordination across client teams, researchers, and the broader ecosystem. Any leadership vacuum, even a temporary one, adds uncertainty.
That said, Ethereum's core devs have a track record of pushing through upgrades regardless of personnel changes — the Shanghai and Dencun forks both landed on schedule. The team is expected to publish a clearer roadmap in the coming weeks.
Glamsterdam's testnets are expected to launch sometime in the third quarter. The final mainnet date will depend on how those go. For now, the gas limit target and the EIP are locked. The leadership situation is the wild card — expect more details as the team reorganizes.
