The upgrade Glamsterdam was activated on Ethereum's Sepolia testnet on Tuesday (6), starting one of the main trials to expand the capacity of the blockchain's main layer. The test calls for validators to begin targeting a limit of up to 200 million gas per block, compared with about 60 million previously.
The activation occurred at epoch 353,024, at 13:53 UTC. The limit did not jump immediately to 200 million: blocks began to raise capacity gradually, while the first epochs after the upgrade were finalized normally.
The goal is to assess how clients, validators, and the network infrastructure respond to blocks with greater processing capacity. A higher cap opens room for more transactions, but it also increases demands on the systems responsible for validation.
Prysm fix arrived before activation
The test received a last-minute fix in Prysm, one of the main consensus clients used by Ethereum validators. Version 7.2.0 was compatible with Glamsterdam, but by default kept the limit at 60 million gas, requiring manual configuration to participate in the test with 200 million.
Offchain Labs released Prysm 7.2.1 on October 5, adding Sepolia's gas schedule directly to the software. Updated validators thus began automatically adopting the new target after activation.
Teku 26.9.1 is also compatible with Glamsterdam, but it still keeps 60 million as the default configuration and requires manual adjustment to use the higher limit.
Glamsterdam combines the upgrades Amsterdam, on the execution layer, and Gloas, on the consensus layer. Among the changes are the native separation between block proposers and builders, known as ePBS, and mechanisms aimed at making execution more efficient.
For now, the changes are restricted to Sepolia. The activation dates on Hoodi and on the Ethereum mainnet have not yet been defined, and ordinary users or ETH holders do not need to take any action.
