Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade was originally scheduled to be activated on the UTC testnet at 17:42:48 on October 26th ( Hoodi), but this schedule has now been postponed. On October 22nd, the Ethereum Foundation's protocol team announced that developers decided at the 248th meeting of ACDE to delay the Hoodi upgrade in order to further investigate the interaction between EIP-8037 and the smart contracts on the mainnet. A new activation date for the Hoodi upgrade has not yet been determined. This does not mean that the "upgrade has already been completed on Hoodi", nor does it mean that "the Ethereum mainnet upgrade has been postponed to a new date"; both statements go beyond the facts provided in the announcement.
What was canceled was not just a calendar reminder. The original Hoodi configuration included the execution layer Amsterdam, the consensus layer Gloas, as well as the arrangement to increase the limits for Hoodi and gas to 200 million in the same round. The foundation stated that the revised configuration will no longer trigger these changes based on the original epoch and timing. What is being mentioned here is the revocation of future upgrade arrangements, not a rollback of the historical data on the chain that has already occurred on the test network. For those operating the nodes, this subtle difference is very practical: mistaking it for a chain rollback could lead to completely incorrect data recovery actions; ignoring the old configuration might result in inconsistencies at the original time point.
Why does a change in the test network's time affect node operations?
The value of Hoodi lies in providing clients, verifiers, and application developers with an opportunity to practice in an environment close to that of production. Network upgrades require the software at the execution layer and consensus layer to work on the same schedule, and versions from different clients must also be compatible with each other. If older programs still designate October 26th as the activation date, while the new version has removed this arrangement, participants on the same test network may follow different rules at critical moments. Therefore, the foundation reminds Hoodi nodes and verifiers to check the update instructions for the execution layer, consensus layer, as well as the verifier clients and external block construction tools.
The announcement also specifically pointed out that the client version list previously listed in the Hoodi test network upgrade notice cannot be automatically assumed to have been included in this extension. Operators should refer to the latest version instructions for each client to confirm that the old activation times have indeed been removed. For verifiers, upgrading only one layer may not be sufficient; for teams using custom network configurations, it is also necessary to check whether the old epoch has been hardcoded into the deployment files. These tasks are different from those of ordinary ETH holders. The foundation clearly stated that mainnet users and coin holders do not need to take any action as a result of this Hoodi announcement.
The reason for the delay is currently described as "further investigation into interactions," rather than confirming the discovery of mainnet funding losses, chain forks, or security incidents. The specific compatibility issues involved with EIP-8037 still require waiting for developers to publicly disclose the results of their subsequent investigations and provide client-side explanations. Describing the "investigation" as "vulnerabilities have been confirmed" would create unnecessary panic; conversely, simplifying the delay to a routine schedule adjustment would downplay the reasons why developers chose to proceed with cautious verification. The accurate situation is that the team believes more time is needed for assessment, and no alternative testnet timeline has yet been provided.
Glamsterdam itself carries a number of changes to the Ethereum base layer, including the separation of proposers from builders, block-level access lists, and a re-pricing of the costs associated with execution and state growth. These mechanisms will affect how blocks are generated, verified, and billed. Developers need to check compatibility with existing smart contracts on the testnet. Especially when multiple EIP upgrades are included in the same package, a single change may seem feasible, but this does not mean that all possible combined scenarios have been considered. The purpose of delaying the testnet is to continue to test these combined risks outside of the production network.
Which subsequent signals should be watched now?
The first signal is a statement released by the client. The foundation's announcement lists some of the confirmed new versions and indicates that the remaining versions will be added as they are confirmed; this list may continue to change. Node operators should not upgrade based solely on a version number forwarded by a third party, but should verify whether their own execution layer, consensus layer, and validator clients have clearly indicated that the Hoodi activation from October 26th has been removed. The second signal is when the foundation will announce the new Hoodi activations for epoch and UTC. Any social media screenshots labeled as "finalized" before such an announcement should be treated with caution.
The third signal is the public explanation provided by developers regarding the survey results of EIP-8037. The market usually tends to directly correlate the test network timeline with the countdown to the mainnet launch, but this time, the foundation has not set a specific activation date for the Glamsterdam mainnet. Even if Hoodi is rescheduled, it will still depend on client compatibility, test results, community communication, and governance processes. Equating a test network milestone with the mainnet being ready not only does not conform to the development process but may also lead application teams to underestimate the migration preparations.
For application developers, the most practical arrangement for now is to stop relying on the Hoodi activation scheduled for October 26th for acceptance, and to adjust the related testing plans to wait for new announcements. For traders, the changes are more related to the development pace rather than the status of assets on the blockchain: there is no evidence that the mainnet has triggered this round of upgrades or that assets need to be migrated due to this announcement. If anyone requests to connect their wallet, sign transactions, or transfer coins under the pretext of an "emergency upgrade," they should first verify the information with the original announcement from the foundation and the official client channels.
Ethereum upgrades are never about whether a specific date is met; rather, it's about whether the changes to the protocol can be consistently implemented in real contracts and across multiple client environments. The delay caused by Hoodi has left uncertainties, but it has also provided the team with an opportunity to continue their investigations. Until new test network arrangements and client versions are confirmed, the most accurate conclusion at this point is: the original plan to cancel the upgrade has been put off, and neither the replacement timeline nor the mainnet launch date have been determined yet.
Source: Announcement from the Ethereum Foundation Protocol Team on October 22, 2026 https :// blog.ethereum.org /2026/10/22/ glamsterdam-hoodi-delay ; Previously, there was a testnet announcement on Hoodi https :// blog.ethereum.org /2026/10/16/ glamsterdam-hoodi-testnet-announcement
