Ethereum moves toward 200 million gas limit on Hoodi testnet

Key takeaways

Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter, posting as @nero_eth on October 18, 2026, said Hoodi is the final testnet before Glamsterdam reaches mainnet. The source describes the upgrade as expected to bring a major change to Ethereum's gas limit, with the proposed increase taking it from 60 million to 200 million, a roughly 3.3-fold, or 3.3x, increase.

The fixed activation details are testnet-specific. Glamsterdam will activate on Hoodi at epoch 132,352, slot 4,235,264, at 17:42:48 UTC on October 26, 2026. According to Ethereum developers, the mainnet activation time for Glamsterdam will be announced once decided by client teams.

The most uncertain point is the next target. Wahrstätter suggested that 300 million could become a realistic next step after the proposed 200 million target, but the source treats that figure as a potential future milestone rather than a confirmed part of Glamsterdam.

What happened

Glamsterdam activated on Sepolia on October 6, and the source says it is now scheduled for the Hoodi testnet. At the same epoch as Hoodi activation, Hoodi's gas limit will be raised to 200 million via the gas limit schedule, matching the Sepolia testnet.

The source says Glamsterdam advances Ethereum's layer-one scaling roadmap with enshrined proposer-builder separation, block-level access lists, and gas pricing changes that better reflect the cost of execution and state growth.

The proposed 60 million to 200 million change could allow more computation and transactions to be included in each block, depending on their gas requirements. That condition is central: a larger gas ceiling does not translate into a fixed number of transactions unless the gas cost of those transactions is known.

Market context

The source positions Hoodi as the final testnet before mainnet, making the October 26 activation a coordination checkpoint for client teams and upgrade participants. It also says preparations for Hegotá are shaping up as Glamsterdam nears the final mile.

Hegotá, called Hegota in the Buterin reference, is described as the fork planned for next year, with the source heading saying it eyes a 2027 launch. Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin is cited as saying Hegota may likely be Ethereum's last "normal" fork, with features and technology recognizable to someone from 2015. The source says everything after that involves recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, highly optimized consensus algorithms, and making it all quantum-safe. With PeerDAS, Ethereum began its transition from being just a blockchain to something much more powerful, and starting after Hegotá, this transformation becomes Ethereum's primary story. The stated outcome is a cryptographic world computer.

Why it matters

A gas limit increase from 60 million to 200 million changes the upper bound of per-block capacity, but it does not by itself determine throughput in practice. More headroom can mean more transactions and computation can fit into blocks, depending on demand and gas usage. It can also shift how gas pricing behaves when execution and state growth become more visible costs.

The source's mention of gas pricing changes that better reflect execution and state growth suggests the upgrade is trying to align fees with resource use rather than simply expanding block space. Capacity and fee design move together here.

The 300 million figure matters as a direction signal, not a confirmed plan; testnet execution and future roadmap expectations should be kept separate. The same caution applies to Hegotá. According to Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter, 23 Ethereum Improvement Proposals are being considered for Hegotá, with two headliners, FOCIL and Frame Transactions.

What to watch

The first concrete marker is Hoodi at epoch 132,352, slot 4,235,264, on October 26, 2026, 17:42:48 UTC. The second is whether the 200 million gas limit schedule behaves as expected on Hoodi after matching Sepolia. The third is the mainnet activation announcement from client teams.

For the longer roadmap, the next signals are the Hegotá design choices and whether the 23 Ethereum Improvement Proposals under consideration narrow to a final set. The source's two named headliners, FOCIL and Frame Transactions, are likely reference points for what developers prioritize next.