Ethereum's Glamsterdam Upgrade Aims to Boost Throughput and Censorship Resistance

Ethereum is on the cusp of a major transition as it prepares for its next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, in the fourth quarter of 2026. This upgrade will introduce enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS), which will make Ethereum significantly more resistant to censorship while enabling higher throughput.

Additionally, Glamsterdam will increase the amount of transactions that can be processed in parallel with block-level access lists indicating what state data each block will need before execution begins. The upgrade is expected to have a significant impact on Ethereum's future prospects as a settlement and programming layer.

The longer-term outlook for Ethereum is less clear, however. While it remains the world's second-largest cryptocurrency and largest settlement layer for much of DeFi, competitors are increasingly claiming Ethereum's transaction share.