Ethereum is getting two major upgrades in 2026 – This is what’s going to change

After an important year in 2025, Ethereum (ETH) is also facing major changes in 2026. Two major upgrades are planned: Glamsterdam and Hegota. What do we know so far about these interventions in the network?

Glamsterdam: faster and more scalable

Although the exact details of the Glamsterdam upgrade are still lacking, developer Jayesh Yadav provides an insight via X. According to him, the update focuses on major improvements that should make Ethereum faster and more efficient, without sacrificing decentralization.

This includes support for parallel processing: multiple transactions can be processed simultaneously, which significantly increases network speed. Ethereum also wants to double the gas limit to 200 million, allowing more transactions to fit per block.

In addition, the ‘blob’ capacity is increased. Blobs are data structures that allow large amounts of data to be stored efficiently and cheaply. This expansion should allow the network to handle up to 10,000 transactions per second.

With Glamsterdam, Ethereum says goodbye to large, infrequent updates. The network opts for a more flexible approach with regular, smaller innovations.

Hegota: lighter nodes, more decentralization

The Hegota upgrade will follow in the second half of 2026. Although not all details are known yet, there are rumors about the introduction of so-called Verkle Trees.

This is a new method of storing and verifying data, which means nodes have to process less information. This makes running a node less difficult, lowers the entry barrier and thus promotes decentralization.

Hegota also acts as a safety net for technological innovations that are not ready in time for Glamsterdam.

Looking back at 2025: Pectra and Fusaka

The new upgrades build on the successful year 2025, in which Ethereum already made significant progress with the Pectra and Fusaka updates.

Pectra went live in May and mainly improved the ease of use and flexibility for validators, the parties that approve transactions.

Fusaka followed in December, Ethereum’s largest update to date. The core of this was PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling), a technique in which nodes check data randomly instead of storing everything themselves. This makes the network more efficient and lays the foundation for broader adoption.