Ethereum Developers Propose Cutting 66 Hegotâ Upgrade Items

Ethereum core developers are narrowing down a broad set of proposals for the next major upgrade, dubbed “Hegotá,” as they work toward shipping a package intended to improve the network’s robustness and expand what privacy-focused applications can do on-chain. The review process covers 66 proposals in total, with several of them centered on adding privacy-related capabilities to Ethereum.

According to a Sunday post on X by Ethereum Foundation contributor Toni Wahrstätter, the only Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) currently scheduled for Hegotá is FOCIL (Fork-choice enforced inclusion lists). Wahrstätter also argued that additional privacy-adjacent EIPs—Frame Transactions (EIP-8141), Keyed Nonces (EIP-8250), and Recent Roots for Frame Transactions (EIP-8272)—should be considered alongside FOCIL to “unlock native privacy,” enabling privacy applications to function without depending on intermediaries.

Key takeaways

• Ethereum developers are reviewing 66 proposals to define the scope of the Hegotá upgrade.
• FOCIL is the only EIP currently slated for Hegotá, aiming to strengthen censorship resistance via inclusion enforced by a committee of validators.
• Additional privacy-oriented EIPs—EIP-8141, EIP-8250, and EIP-8272—have been proposed as candidates to expand “native privacy” primitives.
• Core developers are targeting Hegotá for release next year, while proposals not included may be reconsidered later.

Hegotá scope review: from 66 ideas to a deliverable upgrade

The Hegotá upgrade is shaping up as a multi-threaded effort: developers must balance near-term implementation constraints with longer-term architectural goals. The latest round of work involves evaluating 66 proposals to decide which changes should be bundled into the next major upgrade.

As the proposal list is narrowed, attention is increasingly turning to privacy-related building blocks. Wahrstätter’s commentary frames the argument around reducing reliance on outside systems: rather than leaving privacy applications to coordinate with intermediaries, he suggests Hegotá should adopt protocol-level primitives that privacy apps can use directly.

What FOCIL would change for censorship resistance

FOCIL—Fork-choice enforced inclusion lists—is intended to affect how Ethereum handles transactions that are pending when block building occurs. In Wahrstätter’s description, the mechanism would allow a committee of validators to enforce the inclusion of pending transactions into blocks. The goal is to strengthen censorship resistance, making it harder for certain transactions to be consistently excluded under adverse conditions.

While FOCIL is currently the only EIP scheduled for Hegotá, its inclusion signals that the upgrade’s scope is not limited to privacy: developers are also prioritizing changes that can influence transaction inclusion behavior at the protocol level.

Privacy primitives under consideration for native application use

The other proposals discussed in the same context focus on enabling privacy features more directly within the protocol itself. While they are not currently scheduled for Hegotá, they are specifically named as candidates that—if adopted—could help achieve the “native privacy” outcome Wahrstätter is advocating.

In particular, Frame Transactions (EIP-8141) and Recent Roots for Frame Transactions (EIP-8272) are positioned as components that would support how privacy-related transactions can be framed and validated over time, while Keyed Nonces (EIP-8250) is described as part of the supporting machinery needed for privacy-oriented operation.

The practical implication for builders is straightforward: protocol-level privacy primitives can reduce the need for custom workarounds and third-party coordination. Instead of privacy applications relying on intermediaries to bridge gaps in current Ethereum capabilities, these applications could potentially interact with privacy features that are more consistently available at the base layer.

Timing, governance, and what happens to proposals that don’t make Hegotá

Developers are aiming to ship Hegotá next year. The process matters because the decisions being made through Ethereum’s core development channels shape Ethereum’s roadmap well beyond a single upgrade.

In parallel, the upcoming next Ethereum core developer call is scheduled for Monday at 2:00 pm UTC. That call is expected to influence the development trajectory for the year 2027, according to the article’s framing. The practical reason for that timing is that proposals that do not make the cut for Hegotá are not necessarily dead—they could be reconsidered in a later upgrade cycle.

This “triage” dynamic is a familiar pattern in large network upgrades: early inclusion decisions determine which parts of the ecosystem get access to new protocol capabilities sooner, and which builders may have to wait longer. For privacy-focused developers and researchers, the outcome will depend not only on technical merit but also on whether the proposed privacy primitives can fit into Hegotá’s scope constraints.

Glamsterdam first: scalability and usability improvements in 2026

While Hegotá is still in the planning and selection phase, Ethereum developers are also preparing to ship Glamsterdam, described as one of the most consequential upgrades planned for 2026. Glamsterdam is intended to improve scalability, harden the layer-1, and make the network easier to use.

Ethereum’s public roadmap anticipates a mainnet launch sometime in the second half of 2026. For readers tracking Ethereum’s long-term direction, this matters because it outlines the sequencing: improvements aimed at capacity and usability are expected first, while privacy and other larger architectural shifts continue to be evaluated for subsequent upgrades.

Next, developers will use the upcoming core developer call and ongoing proposal review to decide which EIPs enter Hegotá and which are deferred. The key uncertainty for investors and builders is whether the privacy-oriented proposals highlighted by Wahrstätter will move from “should be considered” to actual inclusion—an outcome that could meaningfully change what kinds of privacy applications are practical on Ethereum without relying on external intermediaries.