Ethereum’s Glamsterdam Upgrade May Disrupt Gas-Fee Settlement for Existing dApps

Ethereum’s next upgrade, Glamsterdam, may affect the gas-fee settlement systems used by existing decentralized applications, or dApps.

CryptoSlate reported on November 7 that the Ethereum Foundation asked developers on November 6 to review how changes to gas accounting under the Glamsterdam upgrade could affect existing applications.

Glamsterdam includes the EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 proposals. The two changes adjust the cost of writing new data to the blockchain and the cost of accessing existing data.

The concern is that once the upgrade is applied, changes to gas-fee calculations could create a mismatch in some dApps between the fees actually paid and the amounts charged to users. Services that process transactions on behalf of users, for example, could end up charging less or more than they actually spent.

CryptoSlate said the issue could also affect digital-asset security. If a transaction fails under certain conditions, previously used wallet approval data could be reused, creating a risk that an attacker could exploit the flaw and seize control of a wallet.

The Ethereum Foundation asked developers to check whether such problems could arise in existing services and report whether they can be resolved through code changes or updates. The review results will be reflected in the final design of the Glamsterdam upgrade.

Meanwhile, the rollout of the Glamsterdam upgrade, which had been scheduled for October 26, has been delayed.