Ethereum's 2026 Upgrade Plans: Reducing Costs, Increasing Speed, and Minimizing Censorship

Ethereum is gearing up for significant changes in 2026 with two major upgrades aimed at transforming its operations. The Glamsterdam upgrade is scheduled for mid-2026, followed by the Heze-Bogota upgrade later in the year. These enhancements are designed to accelerate transaction processes, introduce advanced validation mechanisms, and fortify the network against censorship.

Key Takeaways

Ethereum is set for two major upgrades in 2026: Glamsterdam and Heze-Bogota.
These updates aim to improve transaction speed, add new validation tools, and reduce censorship risks.
Current Ethereum trading is above $2,900 with significant options expiry on the horizon.
The Glamsterdam upgrade will allow parallel execution of transactions and expand gas limits.
Layer-2 scaling solutions are also under consideration to enhance transaction processing capabilities.

Ethereum

Current Ethereum Market Overview

As of now, Ethereum's price is hovering above $2,900, while traders prepare for a substantial options expiry. Reports indicate that the expiring notional stands at $6 billion, with more call options than puts. If ETH does not surpass the critical level of $3,100, many options contracts may expire worthless, marking a key point of concern for traders.

Analysts predict that Ethereum will likely consolidate within a range of $2,700 to $3,100 as the year concludes. Some experts adopt a more cautious view for 2026, suggesting potential declines toward the $1,800 to $2,000 range if market conditions worsen.

Introduction to Parallel Execution

The Glamsterdam upgrade aims to enhance transaction processing through parallel execution, allowing multiple transactions to process simultaneously. Block access lists will direct nodes on the specific data required for each transaction, thereby improving both security and efficiency in parallel operations.

Key upgrades in 2026 will enable Ethereum to implement parallel processing and expand the gas limit from 60 million to 200 million. Validators will begin focusing on validating zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, setting the stage for Ethereum Layer 1 to handle up to 10,000 transactions per second.
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 25, 2025

Additionally, the proposed protocol-level proposer-builder separation (ePBS) aims to mitigate risks of centralization and facilitate the use of ZK proofs for validators without incurring penalties for increased computational time.

Gas limits are poised to increase incrementally, with discussions about reaching 200 million per block following these significant changes. Projections suggest that by the end of the year, approximately 10% of validators could transition to verifying ZK proofs instead of reviewing all transactions.

Ether trading at $2,974 on the 24-hour chart: TradingView

The shift toward parallel execution could alleviate delays from spikes in demand. However, increasing gas limits could also lead to higher hardware requirements, potentially hindering smaller validators' ability to remain active in the network. The balance between speed enhancement and network decentralization will be closely monitored.

Another critical aspect is the strategy for layer-2 scaling. Plans to boost the number of data blobs per block to 72 or more would allow layer-2 systems to manage transaction data more effectively, potentially facilitating hundreds of thousands of transactions per second collectively.

Designs like ZKsync's Elastic Network are being developed to enable users to retain funds on Ethereum while leveraging faster layer-2 solutions. Furthermore, discussions are underway regarding an interoperability layer to enhance the ease of transferring activity between different layer-2 platforms. Nevertheless, challenges remain regarding user experience, liquidity distribution, and inter-chain coordination that require further attention.

The Heze-Bogota upgrade will introduce mechanisms to assist validator groups in ensuring the inclusion of specific transactions. Fork-choice inclusion lists are intended to lower the risk of transactions being omitted if only a fraction of the network operates honestly. This initiative emphasizes values and permissionless access rather than purely focusing on transaction speed.

Featured image from Firi, chart from TradingView