Ethereum developers are preparing a major structural overhaul called the Hegotá upgrade, with Ethlabs proposing four core principles designed to make the network faster, more censorship-resistant, and safer to scale. The upgrade represents a shift away from raw speed improvements toward long-term health and usability, with execution client teams expected to finalize priorities by September 10.

What Is the Hegotá Upgrade and Why Does It Matter?

Hegotá will be Ethereum's next major coordinated hard fork after the Glamsterdam upgrade. Named after the consensus-layer star Heze from Ethereum Visions and Bogotá, which hosted Devcon 4, the upgrade is expected to launch in late 2026 or early 2027, depending on testing and Glamsterdam's activation. Unlike Glamsterdam, which focuses on increasing raw execution throughput and expanding gas limits, Hegotá prioritizes structural node health, censorship resistance at the protocol level, and long-term Layer 1 scalability.

The Ethereum Foundation typically releases major upgrades twice yearly, focusing on tightly grouped technical improvements. This approach allows developers to test features thoroughly before deployment while maintaining network stability.

How Will Hegotá Improve Ethereum's Core Functions?

• Faster Block Production: Ethlabs proposes EIP-8198 (Quick Slots) to reduce Ethereum's current 12-second block time to approximately 10 seconds, enabling faster time-to-finality and improved network responsiveness without compromising security.
• Censorship Resistance: EIP-7805 (FOCIL, or Fork-Choice-Triggered Inclusion Lists) allows decentralized committees of validators to mandate user transactions be included in blocks, making it extremely difficult for MEV (maximal extractable value) builders to censor valid transactions.
• Native Account Abstraction: EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions) would replace external solutions like ERC-4337, enabling protocol-native smart accounts with features like passkey login, sponsored transaction fees, and ERC-20 token payments for gas directly at the protocol layer.
• Safe Gas Limit Expansion: EIP-8131 and EIP-8279 limit worst-case payload sizes and introduce Block Access Lists, closing bandwidth accounting loopholes that could expose nodes to denial-of-service attacks if mainnet gas limits increase.

What New User Experience Features Could Frame Transactions Enable?

Frame Transactions (EIP-8141) represent a significant departure from current Ethereum account models by separating transaction verification from execution within the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). This architectural change would unlock several consumer-friendly features that currently require workarounds or external services.

Passkey and biometric authentication would allow users to sign transactions using security hardware built into their devices, such as Touch ID, Face ID, or fingerprint sensors, rather than managing and backing up 12-word seed phrases. This brings consumer-level biometric security to Layer 1 Ethereum and creates a framework for future upgrades supporting post-quantum signature algorithms.

Gas abstraction through Frame Transactions would enable decentralized applications (dApps) or third parties to pay for transaction fees on behalf of users, or allow users to pay gas fees directly in ERC-20 stablecoins like USDC instead of holding ETH. Paymaster contracts could verify proofs of off-chain sponsored transactions or debit gas costs from a user's stablecoin account in a single atomic action, fundamentally changing how users interact with blockchain applications.

Atomic batching and account recovery features would allow users to bundle multiple steps of dApp interactions, such as approving an ERC-20 token, executing a decentralized exchange swap, and staking for yield, into a single transaction that either commits or discards entirely. Since account permissions would be managed by trustless EVM validator logic, users could program multi-signature thresholds, social recovery guardian sets, or timelocks directly at the protocol level.

Why Did Ethlabs Exclude Monetary Policy Changes?

Notably, Ethlabs chose not to prioritize EIP-8363, a draft proposal that would have changed ETH's monetary issuance by burning a percentage of validators' staking rewards based on variable staking ratios. The team clarified that monetary policy decisions should be made through wider community consensus rather than through typical technical hard fork processes, signaling that such fundamental economic changes require broader stakeholder input than protocol engineering alone.

This decision reflects ongoing debate within the Ethereum community about the appropriate scope of protocol upgrades and the distinction between technical improvements and economic policy changes.

What Is the Timeline for Finalizing Hegotá's Feature Set?

Execution client teams, which are the software implementations that run Ethereum nodes, will provide official ranked lists of Hegotá priorities by September 10. This deadline will give core developers a baseline of technical information needed to finalize the upgrade package. The process ensures that multiple independent client teams align on which proposals offer the most value and feasibility before development begins in earnest.

The staggered approach, with Glamsterdam launching first and Hegotá following in late 2026 or early 2027, allows the Ethereum ecosystem to absorb and test each major upgrade before moving to the next phase of protocol evolution.