Ethereum Developers Narrow 66 Proposals for 2027 Hegotá Upgrade Focused on Privacy and Censorship Resistance

Ethereum core developers are in the process of reducing a list of 66 proposals tied to the Hegotá network upgrade, currently targeted for 2027. The work centers on defining a focused package that can strengthen censorship resistance and expand native privacy capabilities for applications running on the base layer.

Only one Ethereum Improvement Proposal currently sits on the scheduled-for-inclusion list: FOCIL, or Fork-choice enforced Inclusion Lists. Additional candidates that could support privacy applications remain under discussion but have not yet secured formal inclusion.

FOCIL Takes Center Stage for Inclusion Guarantees

FOCIL is designed to let a committee of validators publish inclusion lists that block builders are expected to honor. Attesters would refuse blocks that omit eligible pending transactions without proper justification. The mechanism aims to raise the cost of sustained censorship, particularly as specialized builders handle a growing share of block production.

Developers view the feature as relevant both for general transaction fairness and for privacy-related activity that might otherwise face selective exclusion. It stands alone as the only proposal formally scheduled for Hegotá at this stage.

Privacy Primitives Still Under Evaluation

Alongside FOCIL, several related proposals are being weighed for their potential to give privacy applications stronger protocol-level tools. Frame Transactions would allow programmable validation, execution and gas payment logic. Keyed Nonces and Recent Roots for Frame Transactions are positioned as supporting components that could reduce dependence on external intermediaries.

These ideas remain candidates rather than confirmed features. Client teams plan to compare competing account-abstraction approaches in the coming weeks, with a decision window expected later this month. Execution client teams have been asked to submit ranked preference lists by September 10.

Broader Scope and Sequencing with Glamsterdam

The wider set of 66 proposals spans gas repricing, state-growth accounting, slot timing, validator incentives and post-quantum considerations. Many will not advance into Hegotá. Those that fall short can still be revisited in subsequent upgrades.

Before Hegotá arrives, developers are preparing to deliver Glamsterdam, expected in the second half of 2026. That upgrade prioritizes Layer-1 scalability, network hardening and usability improvements, including higher gas limits. Hegotá is sequenced after Glamsterdam on the public roadmap and is intended to build on the capacity gains already planned for 2026.

The next Ethereum core developer call is set for Monday at 2:00 pm UTC. Discussions in the coming sessions are expected to determine which proposals move into implementation, devnets and testnets, and which are deferred. The outcome will shape the concrete feature set available to Ethereum applications in 2027.