Ethereum’s next upgrade breaks the ‘21,000 gas’ rule wallets rely on
Sending ETH to a brand-new address will cost more than sending to an existing one, and software built around a flat fee will get the sum wrong.
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Summary
- Ethereum’s next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, will end the long-standing rule that every basic ether (ETH) transfer costs a flat 21,000 units of gas.
- Under the change, sending ETH to an existing account will still cost 21,000 gas, but transfers to never-before-used addresses will incur an additional 183,600 units of new “state gas.”
- Ethereum developers are warning wallet providers and blockchain services to update any software that assumes 21,000 gas is both the minimum and maximum for ETH transfers before Glamsterdam reaches mainnet.
