• Ethereum developers plan two major network upgrades in 2026, cointinuing its shift to a faster, predictable biannual release schedule.
• Glamsterdam, the first upgrade, would be implemented in the first half of next year and focus on near-term scalability, gas efficiency.
• Hegota, the second hard fork, will bundle execution- and consensus-layer changes later in the year.

Ethereum core developers have revealed plans to execute two major network upgrades in 2026, codenamed “Glamsterdam” and “Hegota.”

This decision marks the blockchain network’s continued strategic pivot toward a faster release cadence. The move is intended to establish a predictable biannual upgrade schedule and strengthen its competitive position against high-throughput rivals.

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Ethereum Shifts to Biannual Upgrades to Fend Off High-Speed Rivals

The roadmap positions “Glamsterdam” for release in the first half of 2026, arriving fast on the heels of the recent “Fusaka” hard fork.

According to developers, Glamsterdam will focus on immediate scalability and efficiency fixes, primarily through gas optimizations and “Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation” (ePBS).

This technical upgrade aims to separate the roles of block builders and block proposers at the protocol level. It reduces censorship risks and further decentralizes the network.

Meanwhile, the developers intend to finalize the full feature list for Glamsterdam immediately following the holiday break.

On the other hand, the second phase of the 2026 sprint, “Hegota,” targets the latter half of the year.

The upgrade’s name reflects its dual nature, combining the “Bogota” execution-layer update with the “Heze” consensus-layer update.

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Christine Kim, a former Vice President at Galaxy Digital who now closely tracks protocol governance, noted that scoping discussions for Hegota will commence on the January 8 All Core Developers call.

These sessions will determine the fork’s “headliner” features, with a finalized scope expected by late February.

Other Planned Updates

Parallel to these structural changes, the Ethereum Foundation is aggressively reorienting its long-term research toward security hardening.

Researcher George Kadianakis confirmed that the network aims to achieve “128-bit provable security” by year-end 2026. The cryptographic standard is considered essential for institutional-grade financial applications.

“For zkEVMs, this isn’t academic. A soundness issue is not like other security issues. If an attacker can forge a proof, they can forge anything: mint tokens from nothing, rewrite state, steal funds. For an L1 zkEVM securing hundreds of billions of dollars, the security margin is not negotiable,” he stated.

The Foundation has linked this initiative to specific milestones, including a “soundcalc” integration in February and full alignment with the Glamsterdam hard fork in May.

Meanwhile, these efforts aim to remove the technical friction that currently limits Ethereum’s mass adoption.

To bridge this gap, developers are implementing a strategy to lower entry barriers and match the intuitive simplicity of mainstream consumer applications.

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