Ethereum’s core development team announced a postponement of the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet until eight smart‑contract invariants identified by auditors are resolved. The decision follows a security audit that highlighted risks to contracts that depend on specific gas‑cost assumptions.

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Audit findings trigger the delay

According to a report from smart‑contract auditor ChainSecurity dated Oct. 13, the two pending Ethereum Improvement Proposals – EIP‑8037 and EIP‑8038 – alter gas pricing for certain operations. The change could invalidate contracts that assume a fixed gas amount for external calls, potentially causing failures when those calls revert. The audit identified eight invariants that need verification before the upgrade can proceed safely.

What Glamsterdam aims to deliver

The Glamsterdam upgrade, first deployed on the Sepolia testnet on Oct. 6, is intended to advance Ethereum’s layer‑1 scaling roadmap. It enshrines proposer‑builder separation, introduces block‑level access lists, and revises gas pricing to better reflect execution costs, as outlined in an Ethereum Foundation blog post on Sept. 28.

Next steps for developers and the upgrade timeline

Ethereum developers said the Hoodi fork will remain on hold until the identified invariants are either mitigated or proven safe. The delay provides project teams time to audit their own contracts against the new gas model and propose any necessary code changes. Once the issues are resolved, the upgrade will continue its path toward a mainnet launch, though no specific timeline has been set.

What to watch next

Stakeholders should monitor further Ethereum Foundation updates on the status of the eight invariants, any follow‑up audits from ChainSecurity, and the eventual scheduling of the Hoodi fork. The broader community will also be watching how the changes impact gas‑cost assumptions across DeFi and other smart‑contract‑heavy applications.