Ethereum Developers Issue L1 Contract Alert as Gas Repricing Nears

Ethereum core developers and the Ethereum Foundation have issued a technical alert for developers maintaining Layer 1 smart contracts ahead of the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade, scheduled for rollout in the fourth quarter of 2026. The network upgrade incorporates Ethereum Improvement Proposals EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, which are designed to reprice gas costs for state creation and access to ensure operational fees accurately reflect actual resource usage. While the vast majority of existing smart contracts will function without disruption, historical transaction simulations indicate that a small number of contracts—primarily those relying on hardcoded gas assumptions—could face operational failures or degraded execution without code updates. Ethereum developers are currently conducting outreach to affected builders to mitigate risks prior to mainnet deployment. State operation gas parameters were last altered during the Berlin fork in 2021. Updating these costs is a critical technical prerequisite for raising Ethereum's gas limit further, supporting an estimated 3x increase in base Layer 1 throughput while improving database and transaction handling efficiency across the network.