Ethereum is about to get its most serious tune-up since it switched from mining to staking back in 2022. The upgrade is called Glamsterdam, and while the crypto crowd on X has been arguing about it for months, most people holding ETH have no idea it is coming.
That gap is worth closing. Upgrades like this change how the network runs at the deepest level, and they tend to shape the narrative around ETH for the following year. So let us break down what Glamsterdam actually does, when it lands, and why traders on both sides of the ETH and Bitcoin trade should be paying attention.
What is Glamsterdam?
Glamsterdam is Ethereum’s next scheduled hard fork. A hard fork is just a coordinated software update that every node on the network runs at the same time. Think of it as a major operating system release for the whole blockchain.
The name is a mashup. Ethereum upgrades come in two halves:
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Gloas covers the consensus layer, the part that decides which blocks are valid. Consensus upgrades are named after stars.
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Amsterdam covers the execution layer, the part that actually runs your transactions. Execution upgrades are named after past Devconnect host cities.
Stick them together and you get Glamsterdam. It follows Fusaka, which shipped in December 2025 and focused on making Layer 2 rollups cheaper.
Here is the key difference. Recent upgrades quietly optimized the plumbing for rollups. Glamsterdam turns back toward Ethereum’s own base layer and rewrites how it builds, prices, and verifies blocks. Several developers have called it the network’s biggest change since the Merge, and that framing is fair.
What actually changes
Three things matter most for a general audience.
1. Faster blocks through parallel processing
Today Ethereum processes transactions more or less one at a time, in a line. Glamsterdam reorganizes how the network tracks which transactions touch which data, so it can safely run many of them at once instead of single file. The headline proposal here is called Block-Level Access Lists.
The practical effect is more capacity. The gas limit, which caps how much work fits in a block, is targeted to climb from around 60 million today toward 200 million. That is a large jump. Developer commentary has floated throughput ambitions near 10,000 transactions per second over time, though that figure is a long-term ceiling, not something to expect on day one.
2. Fairer block building
The other big proposal is Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation, or ePBS. This one is technical, so here is the short version. Right now, a small set of outside players called relays sit between the people who build blocks and the validators who add them to the chain. That setup creates trust and fairness concerns, including around MEV, which is the profit that block builders can extract by reordering transactions.
ePBS bakes that separation into Ethereum’s own rules. It reduces reliance on outside relays and gives the network more breathing room to handle bigger blocks safely. For anyone who cares about censorship resistance and a level playing field, this is a meaningful cleanup.
3. Cheaper, recalibrated fees
Glamsterdam also revisits how transactions are priced. Many gas costs were set years ago and no longer match what operations actually cost on modern hardware. The upgrade recalibrates them, and the roadmap points to a large drop in the base fee for simple ETH transfers. That makes routine payments more affordable and pushes Ethereum a little closer to being usable as everyday money.
There is a bonus for anyone who stakes. The upgrade is also expected to speed up how quickly validators can exit large staked positions, which improves liquidity for big holders and institutions.
When does it happen?
This is the honest part. There is no confirmed mainnet date.
Glamsterdam was originally aimed at mid-2026, then slipped to the second half of the year. As of now, core developers are working toward Q4 2026, and Ethereum’s official roadmap uses a broad H2 2026 window. Test networks are already live. The final date depends on client readiness, security reviews, and public testnet results, and slips on upgrades this size happen all the time, so another one would not be a red flag.
If you hold or trade ETH, treat the timeline as fluid. Watch for a locked testnet date, since that is usually the signal that mainnet is close.
What it could mean for ETH
ETH is trading near $1,860 as of early August 2026, still down heavily from its October 2025 highs above $3,600. Sentiment is cautious. Against that backdrop, Glamsterdam is one of the few clear catalysts on the calendar. Here is how the two sides of the trade line up.
The bull case
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Real scaling story. A credible path to far higher throughput and lower fees gives ETH a fresh narrative after a rough year, and narratives move crypto.
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Institutional appeal. ePBS improves fairness and censorship resistance, and faster validator exits make large staking positions easier to manage. Both help the case for ETH as an institutional asset.
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Value back to the base layer. By scaling L1 again instead of leaning entirely on rollups, Ethereum keeps more economic activity, and more of the value it creates, closer to ETH itself.
The bear case
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Sell the news. Big upgrades are often priced in ahead of time. The Merge itself was a classic buy the rumor, sell the news event. Glamsterdam could follow the same script.
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Delay risk. The date has already moved twice. Another slip, or a bug found in testing, would dent confidence.
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The burn wrinkle. Ethereum burns part of every transaction fee, which supports the deflationary case for ETH. Lower base fees mean less ETH burned per transaction. Unless the extra capacity pulls in enough new volume to make up the difference, that pressure works against the price.
And what about Bitcoin?
Glamsterdam is an Ethereum event, and Bitcoin’s price is driven far more by macro forces like ETF flows, interest rates, and its own halving cycle. BTC is sitting around $64,000, holding a range while the broader market waits for direction. So the effect on Bitcoin is indirect, and it cuts both ways.
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If Glamsterdam lands well and ETH rallies, capital often rotates out of Bitcoin and into ETH and other altcoins. That is the classic altseason setup, and it usually shows up as falling Bitcoin dominance rather than a falling BTC price.
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If the upgrade disappoints or slips again, money tends to retreat to Bitcoin, the asset the market still treats as the safest bet in a risk-off crypto environment.
In short, a strong Ethereum can lift the whole market’s mood, but it can also quietly pull attention and liquidity away from Bitcoin. Traders watching the ETH/BTC ratio, currently near multi-year lows, will be looking for exactly that kind of rotation.
The bottom line
Glamsterdam is the most ambitious thing Ethereum has attempted in years. Faster blocks, fairer block building, and cheaper fees are all genuine improvements. Whether that translates into a higher ETH price depends on timing, execution, and how much of the good news is already baked into the chart.
Keep three things on your radar: a locked testnet date, whether new activity actually shows up to offset lower fee burn, and how the ETH/BTC ratio behaves as the upgrade nears. Those will tell you more than any prediction.
Whether Glamsterdam sends ETH higher or turns into a sell the news moment, the traders who win are the ones already positioned when the move happens. mb.io is the regulated spot exchange from MultiBank Group, built for exactly that: fast execution, deep liquidity, and the security that comes with a fully licensed venue. Set up your account, fund it, and be ready to trade ETH, BTC, and the rest of the market the moment the upgrade goes live.
