Ethereum’s next big scaling hurdle isn’t just how many transactions it can handle. It’s the amount of permanent data that those transactions leave behind. That is part of what the next Glamsterdam upgrade will address, with new gas rules that more accurately reflect the long-term storage and database operations that applications impose on Ethereum nodes.
The change matters to anyone who checks the ETH price USD quote, because Ethereum is set to expand Layer 1 much further without allowing cheap blockspace to cause an unsustainable amount of permanent state. Glamsterdam’s repricing plans would make it more expensive to create accounts, deploy contracts, and access certain stored data, while Ethereum continues to grow its overall transaction capacity.
The seeming paradox is intentional: Ethereum seeks more activity, but it also wants that activity priced based on the resources it actually uses.
What Does Ethereum Mean by State?
The state of Ethereum is basically the sum total of the information that the network requires to know at any given time.
It contains account balances, smart-contract code and values contained within contracts. If an application creates a new account, deploys a contract, or writes data to permanent storage, nodes may need to retain the information for future transactions.
The issue is that as the network is used, Ethereum’s state continues to grow. While transactions can be inexpensive, permanent data incurs ongoing costs. Nodes require storage devices, database access, and computational resources to store and search an ever-growing state. Those real costs aren’t always accurately represented in Ethereum’s current gas schedule.
Why Is Glamsterdam Repricing State?
Two proposals, EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, are aimed directly at this mismatch and will be presented at Glamsterdam.
EIP-8037 changes the economics of creating new state. Opening of new accounts, storage slots and deployment of bytecode would be subject to fees depending on the amount of permanent data added.
Ethereum is running tests on the model with a reference block gas limit of ~150 million. The long-term architecture is designed to enable scaling up to a 200 million gas floor and aim for state database growth of ~120 GiB/year.
In effect, that sets a budget for the rate at which Ethereum’s permanent database can grow.
Some State Operations Are Becoming Much More Expensive
EIP-8038 is about access to existing data. The last significant change in the gas price for state access was in 2021, with the Berlin upgrade. The state database has expanded since then, so that some operations now need more work by nodes, while users continue to pay about the same gas price.
Glamsterdam tries to fill that void. Some storage operations will see their first-write surcharge rise from 2,800 gas to 10,000 gas. Access to cold accounts would increase from 2,600 to 3,000 gas, and access to some contract operations would increase from 7,000 to 12,000 gas.
An additional state gas of about 183,600 units may be required for creating a new account. Such modifications aren’t intended to make every Ethereum transaction more costly. They are aimed at operations that create or access persistent network data.
Cheap Ethereum Has Created a Different Economic Problem
Ethereum has been working for years to reduce the cost of network usage. On several fronts, that strategy has proven successful. Binance Insights noted that with Ethereum’s gas limit raised to about 60 million, the average gas price dropped by about 75% compared to 2025, even as transactions spiked by around 50%.
But lower blockspace prices have not led to higher network revenue. The same Binance analysis suggested that Ethereum chain revenue was on track to drop by about 53% for the entire year.
That is an interesting piece of economic tension. Ethereum is making transactions more affordable and increasing capacity, but cheaper transactions can also lead to more state creation and fewer fee revenues. Glamsterdam aims to differentiate itself by keeping ordinary computation cheap and persistent data closer to its actual cost.
Why Does State Growth Matter to Decentralization?
One of the hidden limitations for blockchain scalability is the number of nodes required. Ethereum has the potential to dramatically increase its block size and process significantly more transactions. However, if that increases storage and hardware demands too rapidly, running a node becomes more expensive.
Over time, it can reduce the number of people who can independently verify the network. Smaller validators and home-node operators might find it difficult to cover those costs, but large infrastructure providers might be able to.
Ethereum must thus improve its throughput while still allowing nodes to be run by individuals. State repricing is an attempt to maintain that balance.
Could Some Smart Contracts Break?
A few may need to be adjusted. The Ethereum Foundation team has rerun all transactions that were executed on the mainnet in the past under Glamsterdam’s proposed pricing rules to observe how existing applications performed.
The vast majority of them continued to work normally. But there are contracts that make assumptions about available gas, such as hard-coded gas stipends, presigned transactions with gas limits, and logic that alters behavior based on the remaining gas.
In many affected contracts, just bumping the gas limit for the transaction should be enough. For a smaller group, it might be necessary to make actual code changes, hence the call to action for developers to test applications before Glamsterdam goes live on mainnet.
AndroidGuys has written about the growing role of crypto wallets on Android, and as more people manage Ethereum from their phones, the cost of storing and reading on-chain data will shape how smoothly those wallets can work.
Why Is Repricing Necessary Before Ethereum Scales Further?
The roadmap for Ethereum’s scaling is increasingly reliant on much larger blocks.
Also, the network has already raised the gas limit significantly and Glamsterdam lays the groundwork for the next step to 150 million and ultimately around 200 million gas.
That extra capacity could enable much more activity on the Layer 1. However, if the gas limit is increased without reducing the underpricing of expensive database operations, state growth could outpace node hardware.
Repricing thus becomes a condition for scaling, rather than an individual fee adjustment. For Ethereum to function, it must be able to determine that the cost of an operation is roughly proportional to the burden it places on the network.
Ethereum Is Learning That Not All Cheap Transactions Are Equally Cheap
Data that nodes need to store for years can be generated from a transaction that costs just a few cents.
That’s the problem Glamsterdam is addressing. Ethereum has already come a long way in terms of transaction fees and capacity. The next step is to make sure those enhancements aren’t simply passed on to the infrastructure providers that maintain the network.
EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 clarify the distinction between temporary computation and permanent state from an economic perspective.
That distinction will become even more relevant as Ethereum transitions to much larger blocks. The scaling target includes cheap transactions. However, Ethereum is now realizing that the results of those transactions can’t be almost cost-free forever.
EDITOR NOTE: This is a promoted post and should not be considered an editorial endorsement
