Key Highlights
- Ethereum Foundation has identified two critical proposals for the Hegotá upgrade: FOCIL and Frame Transactions
- FOCIL enhances censorship resistance through validator committee-enforced transaction inclusion
- Frame Transactions introduces native account abstraction alongside post-quantum authentication capabilities
- 62 EIPs underwent evaluation with contributions from approximately 60 researchers and engineers
- Complete post-quantum security across all protocol layers targeted for December 2029
In a significant development, the Ethereum Foundation has designated two critical proposals as non-negotiable components of its forthcoming Hegotá upgrade. These mandatory implementations—FOCIL and Frame Transactions—will establish both the timeline and parameters for this important network fork.
The Foundation’s Protocol cluster conducted a comprehensive assessment of 62 Ethereum Improvement Proposals, incorporating feedback from roughly 60 technical experts and researchers. Notably, this marks the inaugural publication of a consolidated, unified ranking rather than fragmented assessments from individual development teams.
Understanding FOCIL and Frame Transactions
FOCIL, officially designated as EIP-7805, addresses censorship resistance concerns. The proposal empowers validator committees to mandate inclusion of legitimate transactions from the public mempool, effectively preventing powerful block builders from censoring or excluding specific transactions.
Frame Transactions, identified as EIP-8141, introduces native account abstraction functionality to the Ethereum network. This proposal divides transactions into modular, programmable components handling validation, gas payments, and execution separately. The innovation enables wallets to implement custom signature schemes and batch operations without depending on external off-chain infrastructure.
These dual proposals constitute what the Foundation describes as the “core engineering commitment” underpinning the Hegotá upgrade. Should implementation challenges threaten either proposal, the Foundation has committed to adjusting the upgrade timeline rather than abandoning these critical features.
Beyond these primary proposals, 15 additional EIPs received A-tier classification, indicating expected inclusion unless resource limitations necessitate adjustments. Eight proposals achieved candidate status, seven remain under consideration, while 28 were eliminated from consideration.
December 2029: Ethereum’s Quantum Security Milestone
Alongside the Hegotá rankings, the Foundation released a comprehensive priorities document outlining strategic objectives. The central goal, described as the “north star,” involves achieving complete quantum resistance across execution, consensus, and data layers before December 2029.
This deadline corresponds with migration schedules announced by major technology companies including Google, Cloudflare, and Microsoft. The Foundation emphasized treating 2029 as a definitive deadline, subject to reassessment in January 2027 following consultation with external quantum computing specialists.
According to the Foundation, most reliable forecasts position the quantum computing threat—commonly termed “Q-day”—beyond 2030. Nevertheless, leadership elected to establish an ambitious internal deadline rather than adopting a wait-and-see approach.
Importantly, Hegotá itself doesn’t constitute the post-quantum fork. Instead, it represents the crucial upgrade ensuring subsequent post-quantum implementations remain on schedule.
Achieving the December 2029 objective from Glamsterdam, anticipated in late 2026, demands maintaining an average pace of 7.2 months between forks. The Foundation recognized this timeline offers minimal margin for delays or complications.
Two EIPs currently lack rankings pending mainnet performance data from Glamsterdam’s deployment. Development teams could initiate Hegotá implementation during late 2026 following Glamsterdam’s completion.
Ethereum’s most recent significant upgrade, Fusaka, launched on December 3, 2025. That update’s primary innovation modified how nodes process rollup data, simultaneously decreasing bandwidth demands while expanding data capacity for second-layer networks.
Post-quantum preparedness represents one of five multi-fork research initiatives governing Ethereum protocol development, joining fast finality, privacy enhancements, state management, and zkEVM advancement.
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