London, UK – [Current Date] – Ethereum, the world’s leading programmable blockchain, has announced a significant evolution of its core development strategy, dubbed "Protocol." Following a remarkably productive 2025 that saw two major network upgrades and substantial progress across key initiatives, the Ethereum Foundation is reorganizing its work into three focused tracks for 2026: Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1. This strategic pivot aims to streamline efforts, foster deeper integration between scaling solutions, prioritize user experience, and robustly secure the foundational layer amidst rapid growth.
The original "Protocol" framework, introduced in June 2025, successfully guided development around three pillars: Scale L1, Scale Blobs, and Improve UX. Reflecting on a year of transformative achievements, core developers recognized the need for a more integrated and forward-looking structure to tackle the complexities of Ethereum’s ambitious roadmap.
"2025 was a landmark year for Ethereum’s protocol development, demonstrating our community’s ability to execute on complex upgrades," stated an Ethereum Foundation spokesperson. "The lessons learned, particularly the interconnectedness of scaling efforts and the paramount importance of user experience and core security, have directly informed this strategic evolution. Our new track structure for 2026 is designed to accelerate progress while safeguarding the network’s fundamental values."
A Chronology of Innovation: Ethereum’s Productive 2025
The past year stands as a testament to Ethereum’s relentless pace of innovation, marked by two pivotal network upgrades and numerous foundational advancements.
Pectra: Ushering in Enhanced Functionality and Staking Flexibility (May 2025)
The first major upgrade of 2025, Pectra, landed on the mainnet in May, delivering a suite of enhancements that significantly boosted network capabilities and improved validator mechanics.
Central to Pectra was EIP-7702, a groundbreaking proposal that empowered Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to temporarily execute smart contract code. This innovation was a crucial step towards native account abstraction, unlocking a cascade of user-centric features. For the first time, users could benefit from transaction batching, allowing multiple operations to be combined into a single transaction, thereby reducing gas costs and simplifying complex interactions. Gas sponsorship became a reality, enabling third parties to cover transaction fees for users, a feature particularly beneficial for onboarding new users or for applications wishing to subsidize user activity. Furthermore, EIP-7702 paved the way for more robust social recovery mechanisms, offering users enhanced security and control over their assets by enabling trusted guardians to assist in account recovery. This EIP was widely hailed as a major step towards making Ethereum more accessible and user-friendly, bridging the gap between simple EOAs and the full power of smart contract wallets.
Beyond user experience, Pectra also addressed critical scaling and staking parameters. EIP-7691 effectively doubled blob throughput, providing immediate relief for Layer 2 (L2) rollups that rely on blobs for data availability. Blobs, introduced with the Dencun upgrade, provide a dedicated, cost-efficient space for L2 transaction data on the Ethereum mainnet. Doubling their capacity significantly lowered data costs for L2s, directly translating to cheaper transactions for end-users on these scaling solutions.
The staking landscape also saw vital improvements with Pectra. EIP-7251 raised the maximum effective validator balance to 2,048 ETH. Previously capped at 32 ETH, this increase allowed validators to consolidate multiple 32 ETH stakes into a single, larger validator, simplifying operations for large stakers and potentially reducing the total number of active validators, which can improve network efficiency. While the 32 ETH minimum to run a validator remained, the higher effective balance provided greater flexibility and efficiency for professional staking operations. Complementing this, EIP-6110 dramatically shortened validator onboarding times. Prior to this EIP, new validators could face considerable wait times to become active, sometimes extending to weeks or months during periods of high demand. EIP-6110 optimized the activation queue, ensuring a smoother and faster entry for new stakers, thereby enhancing the overall decentralization and responsiveness of the staking mechanism.
Fusaka: The Data Availability Revolution with PeerDAS (December 2025)
The second major network upgrade, Fusaka, arrived in December, bringing with it one of Ethereum’s most anticipated scaling innovations: EIP-7594, or PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling). This upgrade represented a monumental leap forward in Ethereum’s data availability strategy, particularly for L2s.
With PeerDAS, validators no longer needed to download all blob data in its entirety. Instead, they began to sample small portions of the data, cryptographically verifying its availability without processing the full dataset. This paradigm shift significantly reduced the bandwidth requirements for validators, making it easier and cheaper to run an Ethereum node. The immediate benefit was a staggering 8x increase in theoretical blob capacity, meaning Ethereum’s mainnet could now handle a vastly larger volume of L2 transaction data. This exponential increase directly translates to even lower transaction costs and higher throughput for all L2s building on Ethereum, solidifying its position as the premier settlement layer for a modular blockchain ecosystem.
Alongside Fusaka, two BPO (Blob Parameter Only) forks were shipped. These forks were designed to incrementally increase the number of blobs per block, starting the ramp from the initial 6 blobs per block towards the much higher targets enabled by PeerDAS. This cautious, phased approach allowed the network to gradually adapt to increased data load, ensuring stability and performance as blob capacity scales.
Broader Network Enhancements and UX Progress
Beyond the major upgrades, 2025 saw several other crucial developments:
- Mainnet Gas Limit Increase: The community steadily raised the mainnet gas limit from an initial 30 million to an unprecedented 60 million. This was the first significant increase since 2021 and reflected improved execution client performance and network robustness. A higher gas limit means more transactions can be processed in each block, increasing overall network throughput, though it also requires more powerful nodes to keep up with the processing demands.
- History Expiry: This vital maintenance upgrade removed pre-Merge historical data from full nodes, saving hundreds of gigabytes of disk space. As Ethereum’s blockchain grows, the storage requirements for running a full node become a significant barrier. History expiry helps to mitigate this by allowing nodes to prune older, less frequently accessed data, making node operation more accessible and sustainable in the long term, while still ensuring historical data remains available through specialized services.
- User Experience (UX) and Interoperability:
- The Open Intents Framework reached production readiness, providing a standardized way for users to express their desired outcomes (intents) rather than specifying precise transaction details. This framework is a cornerstone for more intuitive and powerful dApps.
- L1 fast confirmation rule implementations progressed across consensus clients, aiming to reduce the time it takes for L1 transactions to be considered final. Faster finality on L1 directly benefits L2s by enabling quicker settlement and withdrawals, enhancing the overall user experience across the Ethereum ecosystem.
- Interoperability standards like ERC-7930 + ERC-7828 (Interoperable addresses and names) and ERC-7888 (Crosschain Broadcaster) moved forward, laying the groundwork for seamless, trust-minimized interactions between different L2s and other blockchain networks. These standards are critical for realizing a truly composable and interconnected web3 future.
"The collective achievements of 2025 underscore the Ethereum community’s dedication to scaling, improving usability, and enhancing the core protocol," remarked Marius van der Wijden, a lead developer involved in the scaling efforts. "However, as the network matures and its use cases expand, it became evident that our organizational structure needed to adapt to tackle the next phase of challenges with even greater synergy and foresight."
An Impactful 2026: Protocol’s Evolved Strategic Tracks
Recognizing the need for a more integrated and strategic approach, the "Protocol" framework has been reorganized for 2026 into three distinct, yet deeply interconnected, development tracks. These tracks move beyond near-term deliverables to address higher-level strategic goals for Ethereum’s long-term health and growth.
1. Scale: Unifying L1 Execution and Data Availability
Led by Ansgar Dietrichs, Marius van der Wijden, and Raúl Kripalani
The newly consolidated Scale track merges the previous "Scale L1" and "Scale Blobs" initiatives into a single, cohesive effort. This reorganization acknowledges the practical reality that increasing Layer 1 (L1) execution capacity and expanding data availability throughput are inherently intertwined.
"The decision to unify L1 scaling and blob scaling under a single track was a natural evolution," explained Ansgar Dietrichs. "Gas limit increases, for instance, are deeply dependent on the performance and efficiency of execution engines. Similarly, further blob scaling relies on complex networking and consensus layer changes that often touch the same client codebases. By coordinating these efforts under one roof, we achieve greater synergy, reduce redundant work, and foster a more holistic view of network performance. This integrated approach will undoubtedly make us faster and more efficient in delivering scaling solutions."
This track is primarily focused on:
- Continuous L1 Execution Optimization: Research and implementation of further improvements to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and execution client performance, paving the way for even higher gas limits and increased transaction throughput on the mainnet. This includes exploring EIPs related to gas cost reductions and opcode optimizations.
- Advanced Data Availability Scaling: Building on PeerDAS, this involves further research into sharding (Danksharding) and other advanced techniques to scale data availability to unprecedented levels, ensuring that L2s have ample, cost-effective space for their transaction data.
- Network Performance and Stability: Monitoring and optimizing the network’s ability to handle increased load, ensuring high uptime, low latency, and robust propagation of blocks and data. This involves continuous benchmarking and stress testing.
- Modular Blockchain Architecture: Deepening the integration and optimization between the L1 settlement layer and the burgeoning L2 ecosystem, ensuring seamless data flow and security guarantees.
2. Improve UX: Native Account Abstraction and Seamless Interoperability
Led by Barnabé Monnot and Matt Garnett
The Improve UX track carries forward the essential mission of enhancing Ethereum’s usability but with a sharpened focus on two areas deemed highest-leverage for 2026: native account abstraction and interoperability.
"Our goal for the Improve UX track is to fundamentally transform how users interact with Ethereum, making it as intuitive and secure as possible," stated Barnabé Monnot. "EIP-7702 in Pectra was a crucial first step, but the ultimate vision is for smart contract wallets to be the default for everyone, completely abstracting away the complexities of transaction signing, gas management, and recovery. Simultaneously, we are relentlessly pursuing true interoperability, where assets and information can flow effortlessly and securely between different Layer 2 solutions, eliminating fragmented user experiences."
Key areas of focus include:
- Native Account Abstraction (AA): Moving beyond the temporary solutions of EIP-7702, this involves pushing proposals like EIP-7701 and the more recent EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions), which aim to embed smart account logic directly into the Ethereum protocol. The objective is to enable smart contract wallets as the default user experience, eliminating the need for bundlers, relayers, or extra gas overhead associated with current AA implementations. This work will make self-custody safer, recovery easier, and dApp interactions more flexible.
- Post-Quantum Readiness & AA: The move towards native AA also provides a natural and strategic migration path away from current ECDSA-based authentication, which is vulnerable to future quantum attacks. The track will explore and implement proposals that make it significantly more gas-efficient to verify quantum-resistant signatures (e.g., STARKs, SNARKs) directly within the EVM, future-proofing Ethereum’s security.
- Enhanced Interoperability: Building on the foundation laid by the Open Intents Framework and early interoperability standards, the goal is to achieve seamless, trust-minimized cross-L2 interactions. This involves continued work on faster L1 confirmations and shorter L2 settlement times, which directly contribute to a fluid multi-L2 user experience. The track will also focus on standardizing messaging protocols and asset transfers between different rollups.
- Developer Tooling & SDKs: Improving the tools and software development kits available for building with native AA and interoperable components, making it easier for developers to create next-generation applications.
3. Harden the L1: Preserving Core Properties Amidst Growth
Led by Fredrik Svantes, Parithosh Jayanthi, and Thomas Thiery
Harden the L1 is a new and critical track, reflecting a dedicated focus on ensuring that as Ethereum scales and evolves, it retains and strengthens the fundamental properties that make it valuable: decentralization, security, and censorship resistance.
"As Ethereum embarks on ambitious scaling and usability initiatives, it’s paramount that we proactively safeguard the network’s core resilience," emphasized Fredrik Svantes. "The Harden the L1 track is dedicated to the ongoing research, development, and implementation of measures that enhance our decentralization, fortify our defenses against emerging threats, and ensure that Ethereum remains a credibly neutral and censorship-resistant public good. This isn’t just about fixing bugs; it’s about anticipating future challenges and building a more robust foundation."
This comprehensive track covers several crucial areas:
- Decentralization & Client Diversity: Continuous efforts to promote client diversity across both the execution and consensus layers, reducing single points of failure. This includes supporting new client implementations and fostering a healthy ecosystem of client teams. Monitoring and mitigating centralization risks in staking, block production, and network infrastructure.
- Censorship Resistance: Implementing protocol-level features and conducting research to make transaction censorship more difficult and costly for malicious actors. This includes exploring concepts like proposer-builder separation (PBS) and other mechanisms to protect transaction inclusion.
- Security & Formal Verification: Rigorous formal verification of critical protocol components to identify and eliminate vulnerabilities. Enhancing cryptographic primitives and exploring new security models. This also includes ongoing efforts to address post-quantum security challenges beyond just account abstraction.
- Protocol Economics & Sustainability: Analyzing and optimizing the economic incentives within the protocol to ensure long-term sustainability, security, and fair participation. This includes research into fee markets, validator rewards, and the overall economic health of the network.
- Resilience & Attack Surface Reduction: Proactive measures to identify and reduce the attack surface of the protocol, including improvements to P2P networking, state growth management, and overall system robustness.
The Road Ahead: Glamsterdam, Hegotá, and Beyond
The strategic reorganization of Protocol sets the stage for an even more ambitious 2026. The next major network upgrade, Glamsterdam, is targeted for the first half of the year. This upgrade is expected to deliver parallel execution, a transformative feature that will allow multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously, dramatically increasing L1 throughput and efficiency. Glamsterdam will also focus on significantly higher gas limits and the crucial implementation of enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS). Enshrined PBS aims to mitigate the negative externalities of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) and enhance censorship resistance by separating the roles of block proposal and block construction directly within the protocol.
Following Glamsterdam, Hegotá is planned for later in 2026. This upgrade will continue the relentless pursuit of blob scaling, further expanding data availability. It will also bring additional advancements in censorship resistance, progress on native account abstraction, and critical steps towards comprehensive post-quantum security for the entire network.
"The ambition for 2026 is clear: to deliver a significantly more scalable, user-friendly, and resilient Ethereum," concluded the Ethereum Foundation spokesperson. "With parallel execution, vastly increased gas limits, enshrined PBS, continued blob scaling, and a strong focus on native AA and post-quantum security, Ethereum is poised to further solidify its position as the bedrock of decentralized applications and a truly global, credibly neutral settlement layer. We encourage the community to follow our progress through track-level updates and to get involved via protocol.ethereum.foundation."
The message from the core developers is unequivocal: "Let’s keep shipping." Ethereum’s journey of continuous improvement is accelerating, promising a more powerful, accessible, and secure platform for billions worldwide.
