FOCIL, Verkle Trees, and account abstraction upgrades migrated to Hegotá, resulting in a “clean and harden” fork in late 2026, and a change in leadership for Ethereum’s protocol cluster redirected the longer Strawmap roadmap.
The Ethereum Foundation has published a new protocol update and confirmed that the Gramsterdam development network is now online and work on the Hegota scalability roadmap is progressing in parallel. In a blog post summarizing an interoperability conference held in Svalbard, Norway, core developers outlined how changes to the execution layer, such as proposer-builder separation (ePBS), gas repricing with EIP‑8037, and censorship-resistance features such as FOCIL, will be phased over the next two upgrades, rather than being crammed into one fork.
Gramsterdam development net and ePBS status
On the execution side, the foundation reports that ePBS, Ethereum’s (ETH) external proposer and builder separation architecture, is currently running stably on the multi-client Gramsterdam development net. The external block builder process has completed end-to-end testing and currently covers “nearly all client implementations,” allowing separate builder processes to assemble blocks while proponents focus on consensus, a critical step in formalizing the MEV supply chain at the protocol level.
The developer also confirmed that EIP-8037, which increases the gas cost of state creation, has reached final draft and is currently being parameterized on the bal-devnet-6 test network. The proposal introduces a fixed Cost_per_state_byte model designed to target state growth of approximately 60 GiB per year with a gas block limit of 300 million, increasing contract deployment costs by approximately 10x and new account creation by approximately 8.5x, while maintaining separate metering of code deposits so that large contracts like Uniswap pools can continue to be deployed. The combined results of the ePBS, BAL optimization work, and EIP-8037 re-pricing gave the client team a “confident path” towards Gramsterdam’s final range, according to the foundation’s brief.
Hegota, FOCIL, and the roadmap after Gramsterdam
The scalability and censorship-resistance features originally planned for Gramsterdam are now part of Hegotá, Ethereum’s second major upgrade of 2026. This update states that the FOCIL (Fork Selected Inclusion List) prototype has a viable implementation, defines the scope of Hegotá’s Account Abstraction (AA) requirements, and states that the next phase is to enter the multi-client development net validation phase. Previous communication from the Foundation and ecosystem contributors explained that FOCIL was moved outside of Gramsterdam to avoid fork delays and keep scope within manageable limits. Hegotá also introduces Verkle Trees, which reduces node storage requirements by up to 90% and paves the way for stateless clients.
According to the blog, the current development focus continues to be “finalizing the implementation of Gramsterdam,” while continuing to advance the design of Hegota and the evolution of the straw map route for subsequent long-term roadmap items. Gramsterdam mainnet activation is still targeted for the first half of 2026, but some commentators see Q3 as more realistic following the conclusion of the Soldøgn interoperable development net in early May. Hegota, on the other hand, is positioned as a “cleanup and optimization” fork in late 2026 that will address technical debt in Ethereum’s data structures.
Changes in Leadership in Ethereum’s Protocol Cluster
Beyond the Code, the Svalbard Interoperability Conference also saw a formal leadership change within the Foundation’s Protocol Cluster. This update names three new leaders. One is Will Corcoran, who coordinates zkVM proofs and post-quantum consensus research. Kev Wedderburn leads zkEVM development. Fredrick is responsible for protocol security and the Trillion Dollar Security initiative.
Original Protocol Cluster leaders Barnabé Monod and Tim Beiko will be phased out of their management roles, and longtime researcher Alex Stokes will be placed on leave. The Foundation notes that under the post-transition structure, the Protocol Group “completed modular advancements” and implemented the Fusaka upgrade in December 2025. This led to the introduction of PeerDAS to improve data availability and enable an increase in mainnet gas capacity in preparation for Gramsterdam and Hegota.
This post ends with a familiar warning. Timelines are subject to change based on testnet results, and users are reminded that even if the development roadmap looks orderly on paper, fluctuations associated with upgrades (in pricing, MEV flows, or client behavior) come with risks.
