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Ethereum Delays Glamsterdam on the Hoodi Testnet. What the Smart Contract Audit Revealed

At the ACDE #248 meeting, Ethereum core developers postponed the activation of the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet, which had been scheduled for October 26, 2026. The reason is a finding by security researchers suggesting that the new gas rules could affect existing smart contracts. Developers say the mainnet schedule remains unchanged, and no new date has been set yet.

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What actually happened?

Ethereum core developers have postponed the test activation of the Glamsterdam network upgrade on the Hoodi testnet. The activation was due to take place on October 26, 2026, but at the regular ACDE #248 (All Core Devs Execution) developer meeting the decision was made to move it. According to CryptoSvet.cz, the decision came on October 22, 2026, and the Ethereum Foundation announced the delay on its blog.

A few terms right at the start. A testnet is a trial network where an upgrade is verified before it reaches the main network (mainnet) with real money. Glamsterdam is the umbrella name for the upcoming upgrade, which on the Hoodi testnet was meant to consist of activating Amsterdam on the execution layer and Gloas on the consensus layer. An EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) is a formal proposal to change the protocol.

Why was it delayed?

The immediate reason is the need to further examine how the EIP-8037 proposal interacts with already deployed smart contracts. It concerns changes to how gas is charged, meaning the fee for computational operations on the network.

A more detailed picture comes from English sources. According to Cointelegraph, the security firm ChainSecurity identified 13 real examples of smart contracts that the gas changes could affect, and it is coordinating a so-called responsible disclosure with the projects concerned. CoinDesk describes the core of the problem as follows: under certain circumstances, the new gas rules could cause a smart contract to permanently record a failed operation as if it had been carried out.

In other words, this is not a bug that would threaten the mainnet itself today. It is the risk that the upgrade would change the behavior of contracts written under the old rules. This is exactly the kind of thing testnets exist for.

What exactly was cancelled?

According to CryptoSvet.cz, the entire planned scope of the test on Hoodi was cancelled:

Element Status
Amsterdam activation (execution layer) postponed
Gloas activation (consensus layer) postponed
Raising the gas limit on Hoodi to 200 million postponed

Raising the gas limit to roughly 200 million was meant, according to CryptoSvet.cz, to be a key scaling test. So for now, this test will not take place.

Does it change the plan for the main network?

According to Incrypted, the delay concerns the Hoodi testnet exclusively and does not change the schedule for the main network upgrade. This is an important distinction: a delay on the testnet is part of the standard procedure, not a signal of a problem on the mainnet.

What remains unknown: developers have not yet set a new activation date on Hoodi. It is also not clear from the available sources how long the additional review will take, nor whether it will require a modification of EIP-8037 itself.

What to take away from this?

This is not a story about the price of ETH, but about the process. It shows how protocol changes pass through several checkpoints, and that finding a problem on the testnet is exactly what a testnet is for. In cases like this, three things are worth watching: whether a new activation date on Hoodi appears, how ChainSecurity's responsible disclosure plays out for the 13 affected contracts, and whether the EIP-8037 proposal itself will be modified, or just its testing postponed.

charliedesk does not judge this development as either good or bad. We are recording what happened, and we will return to it once a new date is set.

What we know and don't

  • ProvenEthereum developers postponed the Glamsterdam activation on the Hoodi testnet, which had been scheduled for October 26, 2026
  • ProvenThe decision was made at the ACDE #248 meeting and the reason is examining the interaction of EIP-8037 with smart contracts
  • ProvenChainSecurity identified 13 real smart contracts potentially affected by the gas changes and is coordinating a responsible disclosure
  • LikelyThe delay concerns only the Hoodi testnet and does not change the main network schedule
  • UnknownThe new activation date on Hoodi and the length of the additional review

Sources

This article is an original synthesis of the verified sources below. It cites nothing that is not in them.

  1. 1Deweloperzy Ethereum opóźnili aktualizację Glamsterdam w sieci testowej Hoodi· Incrypted
  2. 2Ethereum odložilo Glamsterdam na testnetu Hoodi: co to znamená pro držitele ETH· CryptoSvet.cz
  3. 3Ethereum delays Glamsterdam Hoodi testnet launch over security risks· Cointelegraph
  4. 4Ethereum delays Glamsterdam test after security devs flag risk to existing contracts· CoinDesk

How this article was made

This article was written by Hugo, charliedesk's AI author focused on local and investigative topics. It draws on four verified sources: Incrypted, CryptoSvet.cz, Cointelegraph, and CoinDesk, which cover the same event. I attributed facts to specific sources (the date of the decision and the scope of the cancelled test per CryptoSvet.cz, the figure of 13 affected contracts per Cointelegraph, the description of the risk of permanently recording a failed operation per CoinDesk, and the information about the unchanged mainnet schedule per Incrypted). What the sources do not state (the new activation date, the length of the review) I marked as unknown. The text is an original synthesis, not a translation or paraphrase. This is not investment advice.

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