What each upgrade changed for ETH holders
Most forks are invisible to holders. A handful changed the things you actually feel: what a transaction costs, how fast new ETH is created, whether staked ETH can be withdrawn, and how cheap layer 2 is.
Fees: London, Dencun and Fusaka
London (August 5, 2021) brought EIP-1559: every block has a protocol-set base fee that is burned, plus an optional tip for the validator. Fees did not get cheaper by design, but they became more predictable. The yearly average base fee has fallen from 89.9 gwei in 2021 to 41.0 in 2022, 27.9 in 2023, 16.0 in 2024, 2.0 in 2025 and 0.27 gwei so far in 2026 (ultrasound.money data on our ETH supply page). That fall reflects lower demand for block space and more capacity, not one upgrade. Fusaka’s 60 million default gas limit is what blocks run at today: block 26,226,498 on October 19, 2026 had a 60M limit and a 0.069 gwei base fee. Check the live number on our gas tracker or read how gas fees work.
Supply: Byzantium, Constantinople, London and the Merge
- Byzantium (October 2017) cut the mining reward from 5 to 3 ETH per block, and Constantinople (February 2019) cut it to 2 ETH.
- London started the burn: about 4.64 million ETH has been destroyed through the base fee since August 2021.
- The Merge ended mining issuance. ethereum.org estimates new ETH fell from about 13,000 a day under proof of work to about 1,700 a day at the time, a drop of roughly 88%. Issuance today is about 2,970 ETH a day because more ETH is staked (43.76 million).
- Net effect: supply shrank for about 18 months after the Merge but has grown about 0.8% a year since 2024, as low fees mean little is burned. The Ethereum supply data has the full history.
Staking: Beacon Chain, Shapella, Pectra
- The Beacon Chain launched on December 1, 2020. ETH staked from then on was locked with no way out.
- Shapella (April 12, 2023) made it withdrawable: balances above 32 ETH are swept automatically, and an exited validator gets everything back after the exit queue.
- Pectra (May 7, 2025) let a validator hold up to 2,048 ETH with compounding rewards (EIP-7251) and let the withdrawal address trigger exits (EIP-7002), which helps if someone else runs your validator.
- Glamsterdam adds EIP-8061 (higher exit and consolidation churn). Compare today’s options in our staking guide and the staking comparator.
Layer 2: Dencun, Pectra, Fusaka and the BPO forks
Rollups post their data to Ethereum. Since Dencun they use blobs, and every upgrade since has added blob space. Median rollup transaction costs fell about 88–97% within a month of Dencun, and mainnet’s median fell from $4.34 in February 2024 to about $0.061 in September 2026 (growthepie data on our layer-2 fee comparison).
| Upgrade | Date | Blob target per block | Blob max per block |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dencun (Cancun) | Mar 13, 2024 | 3 | 6 |
| Pectra (Prague) | May 7, 2025 | 6 | 9 |
| BPO1 | Dec 9, 2025 | 10 | 15 |
| BPO2 | Jan 7, 2026 | 14 | 21 |
Source: EIP-8138 historical blob table and the Fusaka mainnet announcement. Fusaka itself kept 6/9 at activation; BPO3 is drafted (EIP-8138) but unscheduled. See how layer 2 works.
Wallets and safety
Spurious Dragon’s replay protection (EIP-155, 2016) stopped transactions being copied to another chain. Pectra’s EIP-7702 lets a normal wallet batch transactions or have gas paid by someone else, and Fusaka’s secp256r1 precompile (EIP-7951) supports passkey-style signing. EIP-7702 also means a signed “delegation” lets a contract act for your account, so only approve delegation prompts from a wallet you trust. To review token allowances you have already granted, use our token approval checker. And remember: no upgrade ever requires you to move, swap or “upgrade” ETH.
Did ETH’s price rise after upgrades?
Not reliably. For 19 upgrades from the DAO fork to Fusaka, ETH’s Coinbase close was higher 30 days later in 8 cases (median −2.1%), higher 90 days later in 10 (median +4.6%) and higher a year later in 13 of 18 (median +47.6%, mostly ETH’s long-run trend). The table compares the daily close on the day before activation with the close 30, 90 and 365 days later. It is history, not a signal; see Ethereum price history for the full record.
| Upgrade | Mainnet date | ETH close day before | +30 days | +90 days | +365 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAO fork | Jul 20, 2016 | $11.75 | −8.3% | +6.7% | +1823.9% |
| Tangerine Whistle | Oct 18, 2016 | $11.96 | −17.1% | −19.2% | +2522.0% |
| Spurious Dragon | Nov 22, 2016 | $9.54 | −20.9% | +32.2% | +3901.4% |
| Byzantium | Oct 16, 2017 | $337 | −1.5% | +305.3% | −39.0% |
| Constantinople + Petersburg | Feb 28, 2019 | $134 | +5.7% | +100.3% | +69.1% |
| Istanbul | Dec 8, 2019 | $147 | −3.0% | +61.3% | +301.2% |
| Muir Glacier | Jan 2, 2020 | $130 | +40.9% | +4.6% | +461.5% |
| Beacon Chain launch | Dec 1, 2020 | $617 | +19.6% | +154.8% | +643.4% |
| Berlin | Apr 15, 2021 | $2,433 | +50.0% | −18.0% | +25.0% |
| London | Aug 5, 2021 | $2,725 | +42.7% | +69.0% | −36.3% |
| Altair | Oct 27, 2021 | $4,131 | −2.1% | −40.4% | −63.4% |
| Arrow Glacier | Dec 9, 2021 | $4,441 | −30.6% | −38.6% | −71.6% |
| Gray Glacier | Jun 30, 2022 | $1,099 | +54.5% | +21.6% | +75.9% |
| Bellatrix | Sep 6, 2022 | $1,618 | −16.4% | −22.2% | +0.9% |
| The Merge (Paris) | Sep 15, 2022 | $1,639 | −22.2% | −20.2% | +0.1% |
| Shapella | Apr 12, 2023 | $1,892 | −4.4% | −0.7% | +85.2% |
| Dencun | Mar 13, 2024 | $3,980 | −18.6% | −12.1% | −53.2% |
| Pectra | May 7, 2025 | $1,817 | +36.4% | +98.8% | +26.1% |
| Fusaka | Dec 3, 2025 | $2,997 | +4.3% | −33.8% | n/a |
| BPO1 | Dec 9, 2025 | $3,125 | −0.7% | −36.2% | n/a |
| BPO2 | Jan 7, 2026 | $3,296 | −37.4% | −32.0% | n/a |
Coinbase ETH-USD daily closes (UTC days) through October 17, 2026; Coinbase data starts May 18, 2016, so Frontier, Frontier Thawing and Homestead are not shown. Constantinople and Petersburg share a row (same block). n/a = less than 365 days ago. BPO1 and BPO2 are shown but not counted in the summary.
Why upgrades have two names
Since 2021, execution-layer upgrades are named after Devcon and Devconnect host cities in order (Berlin, London, Shanghai, Cancun, Prague, Osaka, Amsterdam, Bogotá), and consensus-layer upgrades after stars in alphabetical order (Altair, Bellatrix, Capella, Deneb, Electra, Fulu, Gloas, Heze). Since the Merge both ship together, so the names are blended: Shapella, Dencun, Pectra, Fusaka, Glamsterdam and Hegotá (ethereum.org).
Download the timeline (CSV, CC BY 4.0)
Cite as: “GrowYourEthereum, Ethereum Upgrades Timeline, CC BY 4.0, growyourethereum.com/data/ethereum-upgrades.”
License: Our tables and the CSV (27 rows: name, layer, status, UTC date and time, block, epoch, headline EIPs, what changed, holder impact, ETH price change and source) are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Share and adapt them with credit and a link to this page.
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Free to reuse in articles, research, reports and apps under CC BY 4.0. Copy a ready-made citation below; the HTML version includes the credit link the license asks for.
GrowYourEthereum. (2026). Ethereum Upgrades Timeline [Data set]. Updated October 19, 2026. https://growyourethereum.com/data/ethereum-upgrades. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
<a href="https://growyourethereum.com/data/ethereum-upgrades">Ethereum Upgrades Timeline</a> by GrowYourEthereum, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.
@misc{growyourethereum_ethereum_upgrades_2026,
author = {{GrowYourEthereum}},
title = {Ethereum Upgrades Timeline},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://growyourethereum.com/data/ethereum-upgrades}},
note = {Data set, updated October 19, 2026. CC BY 4.0}
}More datasets, JSON files and embeddable widgets: free Ethereum data for journalists, researchers and builders.
Methodology
- Dates, UTC times, blocks, epochs and EIP lists come from ethereum.org’s fork timeline (updated October 15, 2026), checked against the meta-EIPs (EIP-1716, EIP-7600, EIP-7607, EIP-7773) and the Ethereum Foundation’s mainnet announcements. BPO times come from the Fusaka mainnet announcement and EIP-7607.
- Glamsterdam’s status was re-checked on October 19, 2026 against the October 16 Hoodi announcement, EIP-7773 and ethereum.org. We will update this page when a mainnet date is announced.
- Price columns use Coinbase Exchange ETH-USD daily candles (the same data as our price history page): the close on the UTC day before activation versus the close 30, 90 and 365 calendar days later.
- Current block, gas limit and base fee were read from a public Ethereum node at about 12:04 UTC (8:04 AM ET) on October 19, 2026. Supply, burn and base-fee history come from our ultrasound.money-based supply page; layer-2 costs from our growthepie-based fee page.
Ethereum upgrades FAQ
What is the next Ethereum upgrade?
Glamsterdam, which combines the Amsterdam execution-layer upgrade and the Gloas consensus-layer upgrade. Its headline changes are enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS, EIP-7732) and block-level access lists (EIP-7928), plus gas repricing for state growth. As of October 19, 2026 it has been live on the Sepolia testnet since October 6 and is scheduled for the Hoodi testnet on October 26, 2026 at 17:42:48 UTC. The Ethereum Foundation says its mainnet date has not been decided.
When will Glamsterdam go live on mainnet?
There is no official date yet. ethereum.org lists Glamsterdam as expected in Q4 2026 with the date not confirmed, and the Ethereum Foundation’s October 16, 2026 Hoodi announcement says the mainnet activation date “has not yet been decided”. Client teams choose it after the testnets. For comparison, Fusaka reached mainnet 36 days after its Hoodi fork and Pectra 42 days after; the last five mainnet dates were announced 14 to 27 days ahead. That history is context, not a schedule.
What was the Fusaka upgrade?
Fusaka (Fulu + Osaka) went live on December 3, 2025 at 21:49:11 UTC (epoch 411,392, block 23,935,694). Its headline feature is PeerDAS (EIP-7594), which lets nodes check blob data by sampling instead of downloading all of it, so blob capacity can grow. It also capped a single transaction at 16,777,216 gas, shipped a 60 million default block gas limit and added a passkey-style secp256r1 signature precompile. Two blob-parameter-only forks followed: BPO1 on December 9, 2025 (blob target 10, max 15) and BPO2 on January 7, 2026 (14 and 21).
What did the Pectra upgrade change?
Pectra (Prague + Electra) went live on May 7, 2025 at 10:05:11 UTC. EIP-7702 lets ordinary wallet accounts use smart-account features such as transaction batching and gas sponsorship. EIP-7251 raised a validator’s maximum effective balance from 32 to 2,048 ETH so rewards can compound. EIP-7002 lets the withdrawal address trigger exits and partial withdrawals. EIP-7691 doubled the blob target to 6 per block (maximum 9).
When was the Merge?
September 15, 2022 at 06:42:42 UTC (2:42 AM Eastern), at block 15,537,394, after the proof-of-work chain reached its terminal total difficulty at block 15,537,393. Ethereum switched from mining to proof of stake. ethereum.org puts the drop in energy use at about 99.95% and the drop in new ETH issuance at about 88%. The Merge did not lower gas fees and did not enable staking withdrawals; those came with Shapella in April 2023.
What was the Shapella upgrade?
Shapella (Shanghai + Capella) went live on April 12, 2023 at 22:27:35 UTC (block 17,034,870). Through EIP-4895 it enabled staking withdrawals for the first time: balances above 32 ETH are swept to the withdrawal address automatically every few days, and an exited validator receives its full balance. ETH deposited for staking from late 2020 until then could not be withdrawn.
What was Dencun, and did it lower fees?
Dencun (Cancun + Deneb) went live on March 13, 2024 at 13:55:35 UTC (block 19,426,587). EIP-4844 added “blobs”, temporary data space for rollups (target 3, max 6 per block) with its own fee market. In growthepie’s data on our layer-2 fee page, median rollup transaction costs fell about 88–97% within a month. ethereum.org notes it targeted rollup costs, not mainnet gas.
How many hard forks has Ethereum had?
Our timeline lists 25 mainnet activations from July 30, 2015 to January 7, 2026: the Frontier launch, 15 execution-layer forks up to and including the Merge (Petersburg activated at the same block as Constantinople), 3 Beacon Chain milestones (its launch, Altair and Bellatrix), 4 combined upgrades (Shapella, Dencun, Pectra and Fusaka) and 2 blob-parameter-only forks (BPO1 and BPO2). ethereum.org’s own timeline does not list Petersburg or the BPO forks separately.
Do I need to do anything with my ETH during an upgrade?
No. ETH held on an exchange, in a software wallet or on a hardware wallet stays exactly as it is, and there is nothing to convert. ethereum.org warns that anyone telling you to “upgrade” your ETH is trying to scam you. Only node operators and solo stakers need to update their client software before each fork.
Does ETH’s price go up after an upgrade?
Not reliably. Across 19 upgrades from the DAO fork (2016) to Fusaka (2025), ETH’s Coinbase close was higher 30 days later in 8 cases (median −2.1%) and 90 days later in 10 (median +4.6%). ETH was down 22.2% 30 days after the Merge and up 36.4% 30 days after Pectra. Upgrades are scheduled weeks ahead, and the wider crypto market moves price far more than any single fork.
Sources
- ethereum.org: Timeline of all Ethereum forks (dates, UTC times, blocks, epochs, EIPs)
- ethereum.org: Ethereum roadmap (Glamsterdam Q4 2026, Hegotá 2027)
- ethereum.org: Glamsterdam (status, scheduled EIPs, FAQ)
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Glamsterdam Hoodi Testnet Announcement (Oct 16, 2026)
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Glamsterdam Testnet Announcement (Sepolia, posted Sep 28, 2026)
- EIP-7773: Hardfork Meta – Glamsterdam
- EIP-2780: Resource-based intrinsic transaction gas
- EIP-8246: Remove SELFDESTRUCT burn
- Forkcast: Glamsterdam upgrade tracker
- ethereum.org: Fusaka
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Fusaka Mainnet Announcement (Nov 6, 2025; BPO schedule)
- EIP-7607: Hardfork Meta – Fusaka (activation and BPO tables)
- EIP-7892: Blob Parameter Only hardforks
- EIP-8138: Hardfork Meta – BPO3 (draft; blob schedule history, BPO3 unscheduled)
- ethereum.org: Pectra
- EIP-7600: Hardfork Meta – Pectra (testnet and mainnet activations)
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Pectra Mainnet Announcement (Apr 23, 2025)
- ethereum.org: Cancun-Deneb (Dencun) FAQ
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Dencun Mainnet Announcement (Feb 27, 2024)
- EIP-4844: Shard blob transactions
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Mainnet Shapella Announcement (Mar 28, 2023)
- EIP-4895: Beacon chain push withdrawals as operations
- ethereum.org: Staking withdrawals
- ethereum.org: The Merge (energy, misconceptions)
- ethereum.org: How the Merge impacted ETH supply
- Ethereum Foundation blog: Mainnet Merge Announcement (Aug 24, 2022)
- EIP-3675: Upgrade consensus to Proof-of-Stake
- EIP-1559: Fee market change (London)
- EIP-1716: Hardfork Meta – Petersburg
- Coinbase Exchange API: product candles (ETH-USD daily closes used for the price table)
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Educational data page. Not financial, tax or legal advice. Upgrade scopes and dates can change until they are live; we only state dates that the Ethereum Foundation, ethereum.org or the meta-EIPs have published. GrowYourEthereum is independent and not affiliated with the Ethereum Foundation or any client team. Checked October 19, 2026, 8 AM ET. This page and its CSV: CC BY 4.0.