Ethereum's 'Two-Track Update': Glamsterdam Public Testnet and Hegotá Initial Validation

[Block Media Reporter Ham Ji-hyun] Ethereum is continuing preparations ahead of the application of its next upgrade, 'Glamsterdam', to the Sepolia testnet. The subsequent upgrade, 'Hegotá', is also being developed in parallel by testing core functionalities separately before integration.

According to the developer testing meeting 'ACDT #97' organized by Ethereum Collective Korea (ECK) on the 24th, the development team coordinated the schedule for the Glamsterdam testnet and the initial testing method for Hegotá during a meeting on the 21st (local time). The discussion focused on the order of verifying already ongoing functionalities rather than adding new features.

The main upgrade flow of Ethereum follows from 'Fusaka', which has already been applied to the mainnet, to the currently validating 'Glamsterdam', and then to 'Hegotá'. Glamsterdam aims for mainnet application in the fourth quarter of this year, while Hegotá is targeted for the second quarter of next year, although specific dates have not been finalized.

Before Glamsterdam can be introduced to the mainnet, the stability of new features must first be confirmed on the testnet. The Ethereum testnets utilized in this process are 'Sepolia' and 'Hoodi'. The development team plans to first apply Glamsterdam to these two testnets, checking primarily whether applications and smart contracts operate normally on Sepolia, and verifying network functionalities such as validator operations and staking on Hoodi.

Sepolia and Hoodi are not separate upgrade names but Ethereum testnets used to validate new features before their introduction to the mainnet. Sepolia is mainly used for testing applications and smart contracts, while Hoodi is utilized for validating operations and staking, as well as network upgrades. Therefore, it is not Hoodi that is applied to Ethereum, but rather the Glamsterdam upgrade is first applied to the Hoodi testnet to confirm its stability.

Glamsterdam has entered a phase where it defines the scope of major functionalities and checks stability on the developer testnet (Devnet). Previously, on the 17th of last month, the Ethereum Foundation unveiled a pre-testnet called 'Platåberget', which allows general developers and node operators to participate. This created an environment to verify that wallets and various services operate normally after the upgrade.

The next major schedule is to apply Glamsterdam to the Sepolia testnet on October 6. In line with this, each development team has agreed to distribute a new version of the client software that runs the network by the 29th of this month. The date for applying Glamsterdam to the Hoodi testnet has been tentatively set for October 27, with the decision on whether to proceed to be made on October 8.

In other words, Glamsterdam is undergoing verification after functional design and initial implementation, with stability checks on existing public testnets like Sepolia and Hoodi still pending before its mainnet introduction. The schedule for applying Sepolia does not mean that the mainnet launch date is confirmed.

The core of Glamsterdam lies in changing Ethereum's internal structure to handle more transactions. ePBS, which manages the separation of roles between block producers and validators proposing them to the network as a network rule, and BAL, which provides a list of what data transactions read and modify, are representative examples. In particular, BAL lays the groundwork for processing multiple tasks simultaneously by distinguishing transactions that do not affect each other.

A bug bounty program is also underway, rewarding those who find and report vulnerabilities. However, as of the 24th, the rewards related to Glamsterdam are limited to technical specifications and Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). The implementation code of Glamsterdam in the client is not yet eligible, and the scope of rewards will expand after the release candidate version is announced.

Hegotá: Separate Validation for 'Transaction Censorship Resistance' and 'Wallet Convenience'

Preparing for Hegotá after Glamsterdam, the team is in the stage of defining core functionalities and pushing for initial implementation and testnet configuration. The main functionalities are 'FOCIL (Fork Choice-based Forced Inclusion List)' and 'Frame Transaction (EIP-8141)', while further discussions are needed for other detailed components.

FOCIL is a mechanism that makes it difficult for block producers to intentionally exclude normal transactions from specific users. It aims to reduce the problem of transaction selection authority being concentrated among certain operators by requiring multiple validators to present a list of transactions that must be included in the block and adhere to it.

Frame Transaction proposes to reflect the programmatic approval of wallet transactions and fee processing methods in Ethereum's basic transaction rules, making the transaction approval and fee payment methods of wallets more flexible. The key is to directly support functionalities that the existing ERC-4337 provided through separate infrastructure at the network level.

In ERC-4337, when a user sends a request called 'UserOperation' instead of a regular transaction, a 'bundler' collects these requests and submits them as Ethereum transactions. Subsequently, a common smart contract called 'EntryPoint' manages the process of verifying the wallet's approval conditions and executing the requests. If the service pays the user's fees, a separate contract called 'Paymaster' is also utilized. This allows for convenient wallet functionalities without changing Ethereum's basic transaction rules, but it requires additional infrastructure to connect them.

In contrast, Frame Transaction consists of multiple processing stages such as 'User Approval Confirmation', 'Fee Payer Agreement Confirmation', and 'Actual Task Execution'. It places the process of confirming whether the user has approved the transfer, verifying whether the service agrees to bear the fee, and executing the actual transfer within a single transaction. Unlike the method of processing separate user requests within existing transactions, it changes Ethereum's transaction format itself to support this structure.

For example, when a user holding only stablecoins without ETH makes a transfer, the payer can be designed to pay the fee in ETH to the network while receiving payment from the user in stablecoins. It is also possible to bundle 'Token Approval' and 'Token Exchange' into a single transaction at a decentralized exchange, ensuring that if the exchange fails, the approval is also reverted.

During this meeting, the development team decided to test the two functionalities separately on different Devnets and then combine them into a single Hegotá integrated Devnet once the basic operations are stable. This approach is based on the understanding that inserting complex functionalities all at once from the beginning makes it difficult to identify the cause of errors when they occur.

However, there were also opinions that individual tests alone are not sufficient. This is because it is necessary to confirm whether FOCIL, which requires transactions to be included in blocks, operates without issues when working alongside the new format of frame transactions. Foundation researcher Tony Barshteiter pointed out that early integrated validation is crucial since the two functionalities closely affect each other in the transaction waiting space, known as 'mempool'.

Geth developer Matt Garnett expressed a desire to aim for a functioning Frame and FOCIL Devnet before Devcon. He suggested pushing for an integrated Devnet in October if the initial tests go smoothly. This is aimed at operating a developer testnet, and does not imply that Hegotá will be introduced to the mainnet at that time.

Regarding Glamsterdam, the discussion also included how long nodes participating in network operations should retain and provide auxiliary data necessary for processing past blocks and transactions to other nodes. Reducing the retention period could lower the storage capacity required by operators.

However, if one software deletes data while another must retain the same data, the overall storage burden does not decrease. Therefore, it was pointed out that the data retention criteria for the 'execution layer', which processes transactions, and the 'consensus layer', which is responsible for consensus on blocks, need to be adjusted together.

The development team did not finalize the retention period during this meeting and passed it on for online discussions and subsequent developer meetings. They also confirmed that this issue does not obstruct the application of Glamsterdam to the Sepolia testnet.

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