Ethereum Glamsterdam Upgrade to Deploy ePBS and Block Access List for Higher Throughput and Censorship Resistance

Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade, scheduled for the first half of this year, will overhaul the execution layer by introducing enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) and the Block Access List (BAL). ePBS, implemented via EIP7732, moves relay-based separation of block proposers and builders into the core protocol, replacing trusted third-party relays with an onchain auction and protocol-enforced execution to streamline MEV-driven block building and reduce censorship and failure risks. BAL will allow block builders to predeclare which accounts and storage slots a block's transactions will touch, enabling validators to preload data and verify multiple transactions in parallel rather than sequentially. Additional changes include gas fee repricing and multidimensional gas expected to lower typical user transaction costs and expand capacity while raising fees for some state-heavy developer use cases, reshaping MEV flows and staking income dynamics ahead of the later Hegotá upgrade that will bring the Fork Choice Forced Inclusion List (FOCIL) to enforce inclusion against aggressive censorship.