What’s on the Ethereum Roadmap: Glamsterdam, Hegota and Beyond

Like each blockchain projects, Ethereum is nether progressive development, with upgrades designed to marque it faster, cheaper, and easier to use.

Instead of a azygous “Ethereum 2.0” event, the web upgrades done coordinated changes called hard forks that present caller features oregon modify however the protocol operates.

Since the Merge successful September 2022, developers person focused connected scaling, lowering transaction costs, improving wallets, and making it easier to tally nodes and validators. The Ethereum assemblage is besides aiming for astir 2 large upgrades per twelvemonth erstwhile probe and investigating are ready.

Ethereum’s rollup-focused scaling strategy

Ethereum’s scaling program relies connected layer-2 networks. These are abstracted blockchains built connected apical of Ethereum that process transactions off-chain and nonstop results backmost to Ethereum for information and settlement.

Many layer-2 systems usage rollups, which bundle aggregate transactions unneurotic and station them to Ethereum arsenic a azygous batch, allowing Ethereum to enactment much enactment without the basal concatenation processing each transaction.

As a result, overmuch of Ethereum’s improvement present focuses connected making it cheaper and easier for rollups to usage the network.

The six phases of the Ethereum roadmap

In July 2022, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin described the network’s six roadmap phases arsenic the Merge, the Surge, the Scourge, the Verge, the Purge, and the Splurge.

These phases are not azygous upgrades but wide goals, and respective advancement successful parallel.

• The Merge: Completed. Ethereum moved from mining to staking, cutting vigor usage by astir 99.95%.
• The Surge: Ongoing. Focused connected scaling Ethereum truthful rollups tin process much transactions astatine little cost.
• The Scourge: Ongoing. Focused connected reducing the power of intermediaries successful artifact accumulation and addressing maximal extractable worth (MEV).
• The Verge: Ongoing. Aims to present Verkle Trees and related changes to trim assets requirements for verifying Ethereum’s state.
• The Purge: Ongoing. Focused connected pruning aged information and simplifying the protocol to marque Ethereum easier to maintain.
• The Splurge: A postulation of smaller improvements and semipermanent upgrades that heighten usability and efficiency.

Timeline of Ethereum upgrades

Ethereum’s roadmap is implemented done a bid of hard forks.

Completed upgrades

• September 2022 — The Merge: Ethereum transitioned from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, reducing vigor usage by astir 99.95%. Validators present fastener up ETH to unafraid the network. The upgrade changed Ethereum’s information mechanics but did not straight little fees oregon summation transaction speed.
• April 2023 — Shanghai/Shapella: Shapella enabled validator withdrawals. Early validators had locked ETH for years without a withdrawal option. The upgrade introduced partial withdrawals and afloat exits.
• March 2024 — Dencun: Dencun introduced proto-danksharding (EIP-4844). It added impermanent “blob” storage, creating cheaper abstraction for rollup information truthful it nary longer competes with mean transactions for artifact space. This importantly reduced costs for galore layer-2 networks.
• May 2025 — Pectra: Pectra combined the “Prague” (execution) and “Electra” (consensus) upgrades. Wallet changes specified arsenic EIP-7702 let modular wallets to behave similar astute accounts successful immoderate cases, enabling features similar batching actions into 1 transaction oregon delegating state payment. The upgrade besides raised the maximum effectual involvement per validator from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, letting ample operators consolidate into less validators, which immoderate fearfulness could summation concentration. Pectra besides accrued Ethereum’s capableness to grip rollup data.
• December 2025 — Fusaka: Ethereum’s Fusaka hard fork (short for Fulu-Osaka) activated connected mainnet successful aboriginal December 2025 and focused connected information availability, including Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), which lets validators verify tiny samples of rollup information alternatively of downloading each of it. This supports much rollup information per artifact without requiring overmuch much almighty hardware and is paired with higher information capableness astatine the protocol level.

Planned and upcoming upgrades

• First fractional of 2026 — Glamsterdam (targeted): Core developers are targeting a mid-2026 upgrade called Glamsterdam arsenic portion of Ethereum’s astir twice-yearly fork cycle, though timing could change. The upgrade focuses connected scaling the basal furniture by enabling much parallel transaction execution done block-level entree lists and by integrating proposer-builder separation (ePBS) straight into the protocol to amended artifact gathering and throughput. The upgrade is besides expected to set the outgo of authorities retention to bespeak hardware demands amended and trim semipermanent database growth. Additional proposals see validator regularisation changes, little ETH transportation fees, improved transaction logging, and deterministic declaration addresses crossed chains. Node operators and stakers volition request to update their clients to enactment the fork.
• Second fractional of 2026 — Hegota: The Hegota upgrade is slated for the 2nd fractional of 2026, though the last scope is inactive being defined. A cardinal extremity is adopting Verkle Trees, which let nodes to verify blockchain information with overmuch smaller proofs and trim authorities retention requirements. This would determination Ethereum person to a much stateless design, lowering hardware demands and making it easier to tally a node. Developers are besides moving connected upgrades specified arsenic Fork-choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL), aimed astatine strengthening censorship resistance, and smart-account–focused changes (including frame-style transactions) that would alteration features similar state sponsorship and societal betterment erstwhile the underlying proposals are finalized.

Upgrade names and scopes tin alteration during improvement arsenic proposals are refined earlier each hard fork.

What Ethereum's upgrades purpose to achieve

Ethereum’s roadmap continues to germinate arsenic probe progresses and upgrades are tested connected devnets and testnets earlier mainnet deployment.

This usher volition beryllium updated arsenic caller milestones are confirmed.