Geth Cancels Amsterdam Fork on Hoodi Testnet, Sets No New Date

Go-ethereum, the most widely run Ethereum execution client, shipped version 1.17.10 on October 23, 2026, canceling the Amsterdam fork activation that had been scheduled on the Hoodi testnet for October 26, 2026, at 17:42:48 UTC. Per the v1.17.10 release notes, published by the ethereum/go-ethereum GitHub repository, "this is a quick release that postpones the Amsterdam fork on the Hoodi testnet," and the team states that "a new date will be set in a future release."

What the release actually changes

The release notes instruct Hoodi node operators running version 1.17.9 to upgrade before the original October 26 activation window, since that client version still carries the now-cancelled fork schedule. The go-ethereum team confirmed in the same notes that "other networks are unaffected," meaning mainnet and any non-Hoodi testnets continue on their existing schedules untouched by this postponement.

Beyond the Hoodi delay, v1.17.10 also changes how the client's snap sync protocol behaves once Amsterdam eventually does activate. Per the release notes, snap sync "switches to snap/2 automatically once Amsterdam is active," with operators able to force a specific protocol version using the --snap.v2=false or --snap.v2=true flags. The release also lists a set of smaller changes, including cancellation of the Amsterdam activation on Hoodi (tracked as pull request #36001) and the automatic snap/2 switch logic (pull request #35989), alongside unspecified optimizations to DUP and SWAP opcode handling.

Testnets like Hoodi exist specifically to let client teams and validators rehearse upcoming Ethereum network upgrades before they reach mainnet, so a late-stage postponement of this kind is a routine, if closely watched, part of the client release cycle rather than a mainnet-affecting event.

What remains unknown and what to watch

The go-ethereum release notes do not state why the Amsterdam activation needed to be postponed, nor do they commit to a replacement date beyond saying one "will be set in a future release." No technical rationale for the delay appears in the notes themselves. Node operators and validators running Hoodi infrastructure are the only parties directly affected by this specific change, per the release's own scoping language.

The practical task for anyone running a Hoodi node on v1.17.9 is straightforward: upgrade to v1.17.10 ahead of the original October 26 window to avoid carrying a now-superseded fork schedule. CoinsCipher will track the go-ethereum release feed for the rescheduled Amsterdam date once the client team publishes it.