Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade has lifted Sepolia’s block-gas limit from roughly 60 million to almost 200 million, allowing developers to observe the network under a much larger processing allowance. The early test has remained stable, but blocks have so far consumed less than half of the available gas. The results also do not confirm that Ethereum’s mainnet will eventually use the same limit.

More than 25 consecutive blocks consumed between approximately 52 million and 92 million gas, equal to about 26% to 46% of the available capacity. During a separate six-minute period, all 32 scheduled blocks were produced, while 99.97% of eligible testnet stake voted toward finality. Hoodi is tentatively scheduled for October 27, subject to the outcome of Sepolia testing.

Glamsterdam Puts Sepolia’s Larger Gas Budget to the Test

The upgrade went live on Sepolia on October 6. By October 8, blocks were being produced with a gas limit approaching 200 million, compared with about 60 million before Glamsterdam, according to CoinDesk.

Gas represents the computational effort needed to execute transactions. When demand for block space becomes greater than the available capacity, users compete to have their transactions included, which can increase fees. A higher gas limit can allow more activity to be processed before congestion becomes a problem.

That does not mean a roughly threefold increase in gas capacity will produce three times the number of transactions. Glamsterdam also changes the gas costs associated with certain operations, so transaction capacity will depend on what users are doing and how much gas those activities require under the new rules.

Testing across more than 25 consecutive blocks showed consumption ranging from around 52 million to 92 million gas. None came close to the nearly 200 million ceiling. As a result, Sepolia has not yet experienced prolonged periods of near-full blocks that would place the greatest computational demands on network operators.

The upgrade also revises how transaction-processing work is divided between transaction assemblers and validators. One goal is to provide validators with more time to verify the calculations associated with transactions.

Glamsterdam additionally introduces lists identifying accounts and storage data accessed by transactions. This information can allow software to prefetch required data and process transactions that are independent of one another simultaneously. The changes are part of Ethereum’s broader strategy for increasing capacity while supporting Layer-2 scaling.

Block Production and Finality Remain Strong

A separate six-minute voting window produced similarly strong results. All 32 scheduled blocks were proposed, and 99.97% of eligible testnet stake voted toward finality, according to the ethPandaOps explorer.

The data indicates that Sepolia maintained scheduled block production and achieved extremely high participation from eligible stake during the observed period. However, it does not demonstrate that the network could safely sustain blocks near 200 million gas during prolonged periods of heavy activity or under all possible mainnet conditions.

Sepolia is a public Ethereum testnet used to evaluate upgrades before they reach the main network. Its tokens have no real economic value, making it useful for technical testing. However, the testnet’s performance should not be interpreted as a direct prediction of Ethereum mainnet’s future transaction throughput.

Hoodi Testing Follows Sepolia

Hoodi is tentatively scheduled to receive Glamsterdam on October 27, assuming Sepolia testing produces satisfactory results. There is still no confirmed mainnet activation date, and Ethereum developers have yet to determine the final production gas limit.

The Sepolia experiment can provide important information for future testing, but a larger testnet limit should not be confused with a finalized mainnet configuration. Developers still need to evaluate validator workloads, block production, computation, and storage requirements before determining how much capacity Ethereum can safely support.

Glamsterdam is part of Ethereum’s longer-term protocol roadmap, which aims to improve network capacity while balancing performance, economics, and functionality. For now, Sepolia has shown that Ethereum can run with a substantially larger gas allowance, but actual block usage remains far below the new ceiling. The results therefore do not yet support claims of a threefold increase in Ethereum mainnet throughput.