Two rival Ethereum proposals aim to stop Glamsterdam breaking old contracts

Ethereum developers are currently examining concerns surrounding eight smart contract invariants linked to Glamsterdam's EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. The Ethereum core developers have postponed the implementation of the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet until these security concerns regarding the eight smart contract invariants are addressed.

Some present-day Ethereum projects depend on preset assumptions about specific operations incurring a specific gas cost, which would become obsolete following the implementation of Glamsterdam's EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. These enhancements change the way gas is charged for certain operations, as stated in a Friday blog post from the Ethereum Foundation.

This decision came after a report from smart contract auditor ChainSecurity on October 13, which revealed that the two Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) could disrupt smart contracts that depend on consistent gas-related assumptions if external calls fail. By postponing the Hoodi testnet fork, developers are granted additional time to identify potential smart contract issues and decide if modifications are necessary before Glamsterdam advances towards mainnet deployment.

The Hoodi fork will remain on hold until the aforementioned issues are resolved, according to the Ethereum Foundation's post. The Glamsterdam upgrade was launched on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, marking one of its final major rehearsals. The upgrade is set to further Ethereum's layer-1 scaling roadmap through the establishment of proposer-builder separation, block-level access lists, and alterations to gas pricing that more accurately represent the cost of execution, as announced by the Ethereum Foundation on September 28.