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Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet after concerns emerged about how proposed gas changes could affect existing smart contracts. The upgrade was scheduled for October 26 and included a planned increase in the gas limit to 200 million.
The Ethereum Foundation announced the delay on October 22 following discussions about EIP-8037 and its compatibility with existing smart contracts. Developers have not announced a new activation date.
Ethereum delays Glamsterdam testnet upgrade
The postponement removes the planned October 26 activation from Hoodi’s schedule. It also cancels the scheduled increase to the 200 million gas limit for this upgrade attempt.
The change does not reverse Hoodi’s existing blockchain history. It only delays the planned protocol upgrade while developers investigate the reported issues.
Node operators have been instructed to update their execution and consensus clients so their systems no longer attempt to activate the canceled upgrade. The Ethereum Foundation has also provided revised software instructions for supported clients.
Smart contract compatibility concerns
The delay follows concerns raised by blockchain security firm ChainSecurity about EIP-8037 and related gas changes. These proposals change how gas costs are calculated for certain blockchain operations.
ChainSecurity warned that the changes could affect smart contracts that depend on failed transactions being reverted or retried. Under the proposed rules, some operations could fail while leaving enough gas for the calling contract to continue running.
This could create problems for applications that rely on specific failure-handling mechanisms. For example, a contract might record an unsuccessful operation without allowing the user to retry it as expected.
Researchers reportedly identified 13 real-world examples of potentially affected contracts. The applications have not been publicly identified while responsible disclosure efforts continue.
The concerns involve mechanisms used in batched transactions, withdrawals, and other operations that depend on how failed calls are handled.
Hoodi testing and client updates
Ethereum developers had planned to use Hoodi to test Glamsterdam’s changes before selecting a mainnet activation date. However, the compatibility concerns must be investigated before another activation is scheduled.
The Ethereum Foundation has asked node operators to review their execution-layer and consensus-layer software and ensure they are using versions that reflect the postponed schedule.
The earlier Glamsterdam activation on the Sepolia testnet, which took place on October 6, remains unchanged. The Hoodi delay does not reverse that activation.
Ethereum mainnet date remains uncertain
Before the postponement, developers had discussed December 1, December 8, and December 9 as possible dates for the Glamsterdam mainnet upgrade. None of these dates had been officially confirmed, and the latest delay leaves the schedule uncertain.
Glamsterdam includes proposed changes such as proposer-builder separation and block-level access lists, which aim to improve Ethereum’s transaction processing capabilities.
Developers must now investigate the compatibility concerns before confirming a new Hoodi testing date or setting a mainnet schedule.
The Ethereum Foundation said ETH holders and mainnet users do not need to take any action because of the postponement. Application developers, however, should not plan further Hoodi testing around the canceled October 26 activation.