Ethereum’s upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade could force wallets and transaction infrastructure to rethink one of the network’s longest-standing assumptions: the 21,000-gas base cost for transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The change comes through EIP-2780, which proposes replacing the flat 21,000-gas charge with separate costs based on the resources a transaction actually uses. The proposal remains under consideration for Glamsterdam, which Ethereum currently targets for the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, a standard ETH transfer between existing accounts requires 21,000 gas. Wallets, gas estimators and transaction builders have built their logic around that figure for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EIP-2780 would break the constant into several components. A simple zero-value transaction could require only 15,000 gas, while a self-transfer could fall to 12,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, an ordinary ETH transfer to an existing account would still total 21,000 gas under the current proposal. The bigger change comes when a transaction creates a new account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such transfers would face a separate state-gas charge because Ethereum must permanently store the new account. The current specification assigns about 183,600 state gas to that operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The change matters because wallets can no longer treat 21,000 as a universal minimum for transaction validity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethereum’s proposal separates intrinsic gas, which determines whether a transaction can enter a block, from runtime charges that depend on the state touched during execution. That distinction could require updates across wallets, RPC providers, gas estimators and account-abstraction infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impact also extends to ERC-4337 bundlers. Ethereum’s state-gas model means applications that rely on gasleft to measure sub-operation costs may no longer capture every charge accurately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Glamsterdam is also pursuing broader changes, including Block-Level Access Lists and higher block gas limits. Together, those changes aim to make Ethereum more capable of processing transactions in parallel while keeping network resources sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For everyday users, the transition should remain largely invisible if wallet software receives the necessary updates. For developers, however, the familiar 21,000-gas rule is becoming a less reliable assumption as Ethereum moves toward a more granular pricing model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ethereum’s upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade could force wallets and transaction infrastructure to rethink one of the network’s longest-standing assumptions: the 21,000-gas base cost for transactions. The change comes through EIP-2780, which proposes replacing the flat 21,000-gas charge with separate costs based on the resources a transaction actually uses. The proposal remains under consideration for Glamsterdam, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[258,2,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ethereum","category-featured","category-general-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n