Ethereum’s next upgrade breaks the '21,000 gas' rule wallets rely on
Sending ETH to a brand-new address will cost more than sending to an existing one, and software built around a flat fee will get the sum wrong.
A significant change in Ethereum's next upgrade, Glamsterdam, will disrupt the widely-followed 21,000 gas rule that wallets rely on. Developers from the Ethereum Foundation have informed wallet creators, blockchain trackers, and fee calculators to revise any software built on the assumption that a basic ETH transfer costs 21,000 gas units.
Gas measures Ethereum's computational work, and users pay for that work in ETH. Under the upcoming upgrade, sending to an existing account will still cost 21,000 gas units, while sending to a new address will incur a higher fee due to the network's need to create and permanently store a new account. This extra charge is measured in state gas, a new category.
Historically, developers have built software around this fixed 21,000 gas number, which has been used to decide gas amounts for payments and sort transactions. However, treating it as both the floor and ceiling for ETH transfers will lead to rejection of valid payments or quoting inaccurate fees. Glamsterdam will go live on Thursday on Platåberget, a test version of Ethereum using virtual tokens, followed by testing on Sepolia and Hoodi networks, before transitioning to the main Ethereum network.
Users are not required to take any action this week, as the change primarily affects companies whose software users depend on.
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