ETH Roadmap Locks in Glamsterdam and Hegota Upgrades for 2026
The ETH core development team has officially finalized the technical specifications and launch windows for two transformative protocol upgrades scheduled for 2026. This decision marks a significant shift toward a more predictable, biannual release cycle aimed at providing the stability required for institutional-grade financial applications. The first of these milestones, dubbed the Glamsterdam upgrade, is slated for the first half of the year and focuses primarily on the execution layer’s efficiency. A centerpiece of this fork is the implementation of Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation, a protocol-level change designed to mitigate the risks associated with Maximum Extractable Value and centralized censorship. By moving block-building logic directly into the core code, Glamsterdam aims to democratize the rewards of block production while simultaneously laying the groundwork for parallel transaction processing. This architectural evolution is expected to significantly reduce the gas spikes that have historically plagued the network during high-demand periods, providing a more reliable environment for retail and corporate users alike.
Parallel Execution and the Path to Ten Thousand Transactions per Second
Beyond the immediate benefits of proposer separation, the Glamsterdam upgrade introduces the first phase of “Block Access Lists,” a technical prerequisite for full parallel execution. Historically, ETH has operated as a single-threaded state machine, meaning transactions are processed one later than another in a linear fashion. Glamsterdam begins the transition toward a multi-core processing model, where independent transactions—such as simple token transfers or swaps on isolated decentralized platforms—can be executed simultaneously. This shift is projected to increase the network’s theoretical throughput toward 10,000 transactions per second by the end of 2026, positioning ETH as a viable competitor to centralized settlement networks. Developers believe that by optimizing how the Virtual Machine interacts with hardware, the network can maintain its decentralized nature without sacrificing the speed required for modern high-frequency trading and real-world asset tokenization.
Verkle Trees and the Implementation of Stateless Client Architecture
The second major milestone of 2026, the Hegota upgrade, is scheduled for the latter half of the year and targets the long-term challenge of state bloat. The technical highlight of Hegota is the introduction of Verkle Trees, a sophisticated data structure that will replace the existing Merkle Patricia Trees. This transition is a critical component of “The Verge” phase of ETH’s roadmap, as it enables the creation of significantly smaller cryptographic proofs. Effectively, this allows for the launch of “stateless clients,” which can verify the entire blockchain without requiring participants to store hundreds of gigabytes of historical data. By reducing the storage burden on node operators by an estimated 90%, Hegota lowers the hardware barriers to entry, ensuring that running a full node remains accessible to individual participants rather than just massive data centers. These structural changes collectively strengthen the network’s censorship resistance and ensure that ETH remains a neutral, globally accessible settlement layer even as its state grows to accommodate trillions of dollars in decentralized commerce.
