Ethereum Postpones Glamsterdam Hoodi Test Over Contract Risks

The Ethereum Foundation postponed Glamsterdam’s planned Hoodi testnet activation after developers raised concerns that proposed gas-accounting changes could affect how existing smart contracts handle failed operations. The upgrade had been scheduled for October 26, but the Foundation said on October 22 that teams would investigate the changes’ interaction with deployed contracts before proceeding. The delay also suspends a planned increase to Hoodi’s gas limit to 200 million. Developers have not announced a replacement Hoodi activation date, and Ethereum’s mainnet schedule remains unconfirmed. Earlier discussion of possible dates in early December was conditional on successful Hoodi testing, not a finalized launch plan. The concerns center on EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. In a technical analysis published October 13, blockchain security firm ChainSecurity warned that the proposals could alter gas behavior when an operation fails. Some contracts rely on the amount of gas remaining to determine whether to stop, record a failure or allow another attempt. Under the proposed rules, a contract might have enough gas to continue failure-handling steps when those steps previously would have...