# Ethereum Scales Its Base Layer

Successive gas-limit increases on Ethereum's main chain keep moving activity and fee revenue back to the base layer, weakening the economic case for general-purpose rollups while raising the hardware bar for validators.

- Conviction: 40 / 100 (forming)
- Horizon: Emerging (watchlist)
- Tracking since: 2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Last updated: 2026-10-18T06:20:14.819Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/trends/ethereum-l1-scaling-pressures-rollups
- Publisher: Polylog
- Affected regions: Global

## Recent evidence

- [confirms] Ethereum schedules Glamsterdam on the Hoodi testnet with a 200 million gas target, more than three times the mainnet limit (2026-10-18): CryptoSlate reports Ethereum has scheduled Glamsterdam on the Hoodi testnet for October 26 with a 200 million gas target, more than three times the mainnet limit. No mainnet activation date is set yet. A tripled base-layer target is the most concrete step so far toward moving execution and fees back to L1, and it raises node hardware requirements.