Ethereum Glamsterdam upgrade passes testnet capacity tests

CoinDesk reports that Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade cleared a key rehearsal on the test network, clearing the way for a proposed Oct. 6 rollout on the Sepolia public test network.

According to the report, the upgrade increased its block gas limit from 60 million to 200 million shortly after launch. Nethermind's execution software finished all 2,302 performance tests. In this period, the system handled 570.7 billion gas within three minutes and 15 seconds, averaging about 2.9 billion gas per second.

The benchmark evaluated block-level access lists, enabling Ethereum nodes to fetch data and verify unrelated transactions concurrently. The upgrade also lengthened the window for distributing block data across the network from roughly two seconds to nine seconds, allowing validators more time to receive and check larger blocks.

The report noted that the results reflected Nethermind's execution software performance instead of measuring the full network's speed. The 200 million limit is currently a test setting and is not yet scheduled for Ethereum's main network. Developers are targeting October 6 for the upgrade's release on Sepolia, where application teams can trial their software before the change affects Ethereum users. Formal confirmation of the date is still pending.