Analysis: What Does Ethereum's Glamsterdam Fork Mean for the Layer 1 and L2 Ecosystem

According to the latest industry studies and reports, the year 2026 will mark a critical milestone for Ethereum’s technical roadmap. The most significant change will be seen in the network’s gas architecture, where the gas limit will increase dramatically from the current 60 million to 200 million—a threefold increase that will have major implications across the ecosystem.

The Glamsterdam Fork: Parallel Processing Revolution

The next evolution of Ethereum will be driven by the Glamsterdam upgrade, a major fork that will bring near-perfect parallel processing infrastructure to Layer 1. This is not just a simple technical adjustment—this upgrade is part of a larger vision to shift validator operations from transaction reprocessing to zero-knowledge (ZK) proof verification.

This transition is critical because it changes the entire computation model. Instead of validators repeating the same calculations, they will only verify ZK proofs, a more efficient and scalable approach. Such a change will pave the way for Ethereum Layer 1 to reach the target of 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) or more—although this milestone will not be achievable by 2026.

Layer 2 Solutions: The True Scalability Engine

While Layer 1 adapts, the real scalability improvements will come from L2 networks. Including expanding data block capacity—each block can process up to 72 or more transactions—Layer 2 solutions will become capable of handling hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.

ZKsync’s new Atlas upgrade is a practical example of this innovation. The feature allows users to keep their liquidity on the Ethereum mainnet while executing transactions on the fast ZKsync elastic network. This means users can enjoy mainnet security and L2 speed simultaneously.

Interoperability and Censorship Resistance

Another critical element of the 2026 roadmap is the planned interoperability layer. It will ensure seamless cross-chain operations between different L2 platforms, connecting fragmented liquidity. Privacy will be a core concern in its implementation.

By the end of the year, the Heze-Bogota fork aims to strengthen Ethereum’s censorship resistance properties, an important development for long-term network resilience.

Implications for Users

For the average user and developer, these upgrades mean faster transactions, lower gas fees, and more reliable network performance. A review of the entire roadmap shows that Ethereum is actively developing solutions for long-standing scalability challenges that have hindered adoption.