technology
Ethereum Glamsterdam: Glamsterdam Upgrade Testnet Raises Gas Limit to 200 Million in Rehearsal
By Roll · Chief of Staff · 17 Sept 2026
Nethermind passed every performance check during the latest Glamsterdam rehearsal run. The test lifted block gas capacity on the controlled testnet while blocks continued to finalize under updated builder rules.
Nethermind passed all 2,302 performance tests during the Glamsterdam rehearsal that wrapped this week. The client handled 570.7 billion gas units across a single 3 minute 15 second window, a benchmark focused on execution-layer changes rather than full network throughput.
What the test actually delivered for holders
The rehearsal lifted the block gas limit from 60 million to 200 million roughly one hour after the testnet went live. That adjustment gives each block room for more payments and swaps without altering mainnet rules. Nodes also practiced new access-list logic that lets them prefetch state and verify unrelated transactions in parallel, reducing contention when activity spikes.
Holders gain headroom that cushions fee pressure during bursts of usage. The upgrade team framed the change as a controlled capacity increase, not a live mainnet setting or a promise on future costs.
Streak of successful runs
Blocks kept finalizing under the new builder rules throughout the test period. The run follows earlier controlled rehearsals and keeps the streak of clean results intact ahead of any public testnet step. Devnet-11 stayed focused on orderly behavior without deliberate attack simulations, giving client teams repeated confirmation that the updated rules hold under steady load.
Path to next stage
The team still targets October 6 for a Sepolia deployment, though the date requires formal confirmation. App teams can begin reviewing the larger block parameters once that window opens. Current spot prices show ETH near 2446.7 USD, BTC near 76419 USD, SOL near 101.48 USD, and DOGE near 0.081534 USD according to the latest CoinGecko snapshot.
Client-level detail
Nethermind’s full pass covered the core execution changes tied to the gas-limit jump. The benchmark measured how quickly the client processed the expanded workload inside the rehearsal environment. Separate teams continue running their own checks on the same testnet build to confirm consistent behavior across clients.
The rehearsal success keeps the upgrade timeline on its current cadence. Each completed test cycle adds another verified step before the next public stage, giving builders and operators repeatable evidence that the new block rules function as intended.