Ethereum’s Hegotá Upgrade: EF Protocol Unveils Unified Tier List for 62 EIPs, Charting Future Development

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol cluster has released its inaugural unified tier list for the forthcoming Hegotá network upgrade, a pivotal development outlining the immediate future of the world’s leading smart contract platform. This comprehensive evaluation scrutinizes 62 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) proposed for inclusion, assigning each a specific tier and a concise rationale, marking a significant shift towards centralized strategic clarity from the previously disparate team-specific opinions. This landmark publication, dated September 7, 2026, and updated on September 8, signifies a mature and coordinated approach to Ethereum’s continuous evolution, building on lessons learned from past upgrades like Glamsterdam.

A New Era of Protocol Coordination and Transparency

For the first time, the EF Protocol cluster, comprising approximately 60 researchers and engineers across various teams, has collaborated to present a single, cohesive vision for an upcoming network upgrade. While leading Execution Layer (EL) clients like Geth traditionally publish their standalone tier lists, the Hegotá evaluation process integrated feedback from all participating teams and individual contributors, creating an unprecedented datapoint for the community. This unified approach aims to streamline development, reduce redundant efforts, and provide a clearer roadmap for the myriad of client teams and ecosystem participants. The guiding principles behind these evaluations are detailed in a companion post, "EF Protocol: Current and Emerging Priorities," which articulates the cluster’s overarching strategic goals and commitments.

The Hegotá upgrade represents the next major hard fork in Ethereum’s ongoing development, following the significant Glamsterdam upgrade. Each hard fork involves the careful selection and implementation of EIPs, which are formal proposals for standards, protocol specifications, or contract standards. The rigorous selection process is crucial for maintaining the network’s security, scalability, and decentralization, while simultaneously introducing innovations that enhance user experience and developer capabilities. The Protocol cluster’s move to a unified tier list reflects a growing emphasis on strategic alignment and efficient resource allocation in the face of increasingly complex protocol changes.

The Rigorous Evaluation Framework: How Proposals Were Tiered

The process for evaluating and tiering the 62 EIPs was meticulously designed to ensure comprehensive review and collaborative decision-making. Sixteen contribution templates were filled out by all nine EF Protocol teams, alongside several individual domain experts. Out of these, twelve provided explicit tier grades, often focusing their expertise on specific EIPs where they possessed deep knowledge. This yielded a remarkable 397 individual tier grades across the 62 EIPs, averaging 6.4 grades per proposal. Highly debated EIPs garnered even more attention, with some attracting up to nine distinct evaluations.

The evaluation incorporated critical lessons from previous upgrades, notably Glamsterdam. Retrospectives from Glamsterdam highlighted several key insights: the importance of accurately sizing EIPs by their integration depth, the compounding effect of complexity, the scarcity of testing surface as a critical resource, and the tendency of EIP champions to underestimate implementation complexity. These lessons informed the scoring methodology and the subsequent deliberation process.

The scoring system itself assigned numerical values to each tier: S (Superior) = 4 points, A (Approved) = 3 points, B (Borderline) = 2 points, C (Conditional) = 1 point, and D/DFI (Declined for Inclusion) = 0 points. Averages were calculated based solely on cast grades, meaning abstentions did not negatively impact a proposal’s score. The "published tier" for each EIP was not a mere mathematical average but a "steelman" — a robust, debated consensus reached through multiple group calls and a dedicated 90-minute working session. During these sessions, EIPs were argued case-by-case, leading to potential tier movements in both upward and downward directions. The individual per-team grades, while formative to the process, were not publicly disclosed to foster a unified front.

Each tier carries specific delivery expectations, committing the cluster to clear outcomes. For EIPs expected to ship (S and A tiers), the accompanying note explicitly states their merits. For "bubble" proposals (B-tier), the notes detail the specific requirements that must be met for them to ascend to a higher tier. For proposals below the line or outright declined (C, D, DFI tiers), the notes exclusively articulate the concerns that led to their current status. This structured feedback mechanism provides invaluable clarity to EIP champions and the wider community, ensuring transparency in decision-making.

Hegotá’s Cornerstones: S-Tier Headliners

Two EIPs emerged as the undeniable "must-ship" headliners for the Hegotá upgrade, both securing the prestigious S-tier designation:

• EIP-7805: FOCIL (First-Order Censorship-Resistant Inclusion List) (Consensus Layer)

  • Tier: S (4 out of 4, with 7 grades cast)
  • Significance: FOCIL is a critical Consensus Layer (CL) upgrade aimed at enhancing Ethereum’s censorship resistance. It provides any user with a guaranteed path to include an eligible transaction without relying on centralized block builders, which have become a point of concern regarding potential transaction censorship. This EIP received unanimous S-tier support at full participation, underscoring its foundational importance for the network’s decentralization and integrity. It is slated to ship alongside EIP-8369, forming a robust mechanism against censorship. Industry experts view FOCIL as a proactive measure to safeguard Ethereum’s neutrality and ensure equitable access to block space, mitigating risks associated with increasing centralization in MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) supply chains.

• EIP-8141: Frame Transactions (Execution Layer)

  • Tier: S (3.89 out of 4, with 9 grades cast)
  • Significance: Frame Transactions represent a locked-in EL headliner, poised to revolutionize account abstraction on Ethereum. This EIP is crucial for security and user experience, providing a native path to integrate post-quantum (PQ) signature schemes without requiring a hard fork for each new scheme. It enables transaction aggregation, making PQ verification more economically viable, and offers a clear route to retiring vulnerable k1 keys. Frame Transactions are designed to ship in conjunction with EIP-8250 (Keyed Nonces) and EIP-8272 (Recent Roots), forming a comprehensive package for enhanced account functionality. This marks a significant leap towards making smart contract accounts the default user experience, offering greater flexibility, programmability, and future-proofing against cryptographic advancements. Developers anticipate that this will unlock a new wave of decentralized application innovation, particularly in areas requiring advanced cryptographic features or complex transaction logic.

The Pillars of Progress: A-Tier Proposals Expected to Ship

Fifteen EIPs achieved A-tier status, signifying their strong likelihood of inclusion in Hegotá. These proposals span crucial categories, from core infrastructure improvements and cleanup to foundational elements supporting the S-tier headliners:

Consensus Layer A-Tier Highlights:

• EIP-8369: VOPS Profiles for FOCIL Eligibility (3.5 avg, 4 total): Directly extends FOCIL by defining which transactions are eligible and what validators must verify, integrating it with Frames.
• EIP-8015: Remove Deposit and eth1data Fields (3.14 avg, 7 total): A critical cleanup and deprecation effort, removing obsolete fields with no downstream dependencies, simplifying the protocol.
• EIP-8365: BLS Withdrawal Credential Retirement (3 avg, 8 total): Initiates the retirement of withdrawal credentials tied to potentially vulnerable cryptography, a key post-quantum readiness item for Hegotá.
• EIP-8383: Reduce CL Block Retention Window (3 avg, 2 total): A constant change addressing an incorrect safety-decay constant, enhancing efficiency.
• EIP-8334: Bundled Attestation Propagation (2.43 avg, 7 total): Reduces gossip load by bundling attestation propagation, improving network efficiency with minimal surface area.
• EIP-8025: Optional Execution Proofs (2.38 avg, 8 total): Integrates stateless execution changes into canonical specs, crucial for advancing zkVM work and broader statelessness goals.

Execution Layer A-Tier Highlights:

• EIP-3298: Removal of Refunds (3.17 avg, 6 total): Addresses a long-standing issue by deleting an entire class of metering edge cases, simplifying the EVM and preventing costly vulnerabilities seen in past forks.
• EIP-8250: Keyed Nonces for Frame Transactions (3.12 avg, 8 total): A core Frames component enabling multiple users to share a single sender address while maintaining independent nonces, crucial for privacy and transaction throughput.
• EIP-5920: PAY Opcode (3 avg, 6 total): Introduces a small yet impactful EVM feature allowing value transfer without invoking recipient code, addressing a persistent design limitation.
• EIP-8272: Recent Roots for Frame Transactions (2.86 avg, 7 total): Another vital Frames component, allowing private transactions to leverage recent on-chain state verifiable by attesters, integrating with FOCIL’s inclusion guarantees.
• EIP-8279: Block Access List Byte Floor (2.71 avg, 7 total) & EIP-8131: Unified Transaction Content Floor (2.67 avg, 6 total): These repricing EIPs collaboratively bound worst-case block construction and adversarial pricing, categorized as essential security work for network stability.
• EIP-7906: Transaction Assertions via State Diff Opcode (2.43 avg, 7 total): A Frames extension enabling transactions to verify pre-commit outcomes, preventing common attack vectors like wallet drains and MEV exploitation.
• EIP-8298: SETCODEFROM Code Reuse Instruction (2.17 avg, 6 total) & EIP-8151: Account Code Restricted ecRecover (2 avg, 6 total): These two EIPs form a package for k1-key retirement, transforming delegated accounts into true smart contracts and rejecting ecRecover-based authentication for retired keys, enhancing security.
• EIP-4758: Deactivate SELFDESTRUCT (1.5 avg, 6 total): Removes the last path for SELFDESTRUCT, simplifying future EIP interactions and significantly reducing testing hazards, a decision driven by the engineering teams responsible for EVM maintenance despite its average score.

Conditional Progress: B and C-Tier Proposals

Eight EIPs reside in the B-tier, indicating their potential for inclusion given specific requirements are met. Seven more are in the C-tier, signaling lower priority or significant outstanding work.

B-Tier Examples:

• EIP-8146: Block Access List Sidecars (2.13 avg, 8 total): This proposal for block propagation and validation has strong potential to move to A-tier once the observation deadline is settled in specification.
• EIP-8237: Independent CL/EL Sync (2 avg, 6 total): Explores bandwidth savings post-ePBS, but requires a comparison with simpler non-EIP alternatives to determine the optimal solution.
• EIP-8198: Quick Slots (2 avg, 6 total): A highly debated proposal for adjusting slot times. While R&D showed S/A support, engineering teams rated it D, citing complex re-tuning cascades. It requires comprehensive specifications, a full prototype, an in-depth ecosystem impact assessment, and confirmation it doesn’t complicate decoupled consensus before A-tier consideration.
• EIP-8321: Hash-Chain RANDAO (1.57 avg, 7 total): A sound direction for consensus hardening, but its sequencing is questioned, awaiting the complete post-quantum consensus design to avoid rework.

C-Tier Examples:

• EIP-8371: RowDAS: Distributed Blob Reconstruction (2.11 avg, 9 total): While technically sound, its priority is lower, balancing immediate operator needs against long-term headroom investment.
• EIP-7668: Remove Bloom Filters (1.5 avg, 6 total): A receipt and filter change deemed best sequenced with broader history and logs work.
• EIP-8200: EVMification (1.43 avg, 7 total) & EIP-7666: EVM-ify the Identity Precompile (1 avg, 7 total): These proposals aim to replace precompiles with bytecode, but require extensive auditing of replacement bytecodes and clear specifications before being considered for a higher tier.

Strategic Prioritization: Declined for Inclusion (DFI)

A significant portion, 28 EIPs, were categorized as Declined for Inclusion (DFI). This designation does not necessarily imply a lack of merit but rather a strategic decision based on current priorities, complexity, sequencing conflicts, or alignment with broader ecosystem policy.

Key DFI Examples and Rationale:

• EIP-7716: Anti-Correlation Attestation Penalties (0.83 avg, 6 total): While aiming to increase penalties for correlated missed attestations, it requires more research and community discussion on its impact on the staker landscape, centralization forces, and edge cases before being prioritized in a "light" CL scope.
• EIP-8367: Balance Sunset for Retired BLS Validators (0.71 avg, 7 total): Deemed either validator convenience or PQ hygiene, it is deferred pending the complete PQ consensus design.
• EIP-8142: Block-in-Blobs (0 avg, 7 total): Unanimously declined as it would deepen dependence on KZG structures, conflicting with the envisioned path towards J* (future state expiry/statelessness).
• EIP-8148: Custom Sweep Threshold for Validators (0 avg, 6 total) & EIP-8205: Withdrawal Credentials Preregistration (0 avg, 6 total): These were declined for primarily serving large staking operations as operational conveniences, failing the "necessity bar" for a core protocol upgrade.
• EIP-8375: ePBS Mandatory Burn of Execution Rewards (0 avg, 6 total) & EIP-8363: Tapered Issuance Burn (0 avg, 4 total): These reward and issuance policy EIPs were unanimously declined not on their merits, but because such fundamental economic policy decisions are deemed to belong to a broader ecosystem process rather than a specific hard fork scoping exercise.
• EIP-8182: Private ETH and ERC-20 Transfers (0.17 avg, 6 total): This proposal was declined because enshrining a specific privacy mechanism could stifle innovation. The Frames-based approach is seen as capable of achieving similar goals with less protocol surface, allowing various privacy schemes to compete.
• EIP-7645: Alias ORIGIN to SENDER (0 avg, 6 total): Unanimously declined due to the risk of breaking assumptions in deployed contracts for no discernible security gain.

Pending Data: TBD Proposals

Two EIPs, EIP-8368 (CPSB Recalibration for New Gas Limit) and EIP-8372 (Normalized State Gas Limit), are currently "To Be Determined" (TBD). Both are repricing proposals awaiting post-Glamsterdam mainnet data to inform a decision on recalibration or normalization, illustrating the adaptive nature of Ethereum’s development cycle, which often relies on live network performance data to refine economic parameters.

Implications for Ethereum’s Future Roadmap

The Hegotá tier list represents a monumental step in professionalizing Ethereum’s protocol development. By providing a unified, transparent, and rigorously evaluated roadmap, the EF Protocol cluster offers unprecedented clarity to client teams, dApp developers, and the broader community. This clarity is expected to:

1. Enhance Developer Efficiency: By explicitly defining what is in, what is out, and what requires further work, resources can be allocated more effectively, reducing speculative development on low-priority EIPs. The focus on "must-ship" and "expected-to-ship" EIPs ensures that core development bandwidth is concentrated on critical advancements.
2. Bolster Network Security and Decentralization: The prioritization of EIPs like FOCIL and Frame Transactions directly addresses fundamental concerns about censorship resistance and future-proofing against cryptographic threats, reinforcing Ethereum’s core values. The deprecation of legacy features like SELFDESTRUCT also reduces the attack surface and simplifies the protocol.
3. Drive Innovation in User Experience: Native account abstraction through Frame Transactions is a long-anticipated feature that will empower developers to create more sophisticated and user-friendly dApps, potentially onboarding a new wave of users. This is seen as a key step in making Ethereum more accessible and intuitive.
4. Promote Strategic Alignment: The unified list ensures that all major client teams and researchers are working towards a common set of goals, reducing fragmentation and accelerating the implementation of critical features. This coordination is vital as Ethereum’s complexity continues to grow.
5. Foster a Culture of Accountability: The transparent grading system and the detailed notes for each EIP create a clear framework for accountability, allowing the community to understand the rationale behind each decision and challenge them constructively.

Community Engagement and Call for Feedback

The EF Protocol cluster emphasizes its commitment to open dialogue. Of the 62 proposals evaluated, 2 are "must-ship," 15 are "expected to ship," and 28 are explicitly "declined with stated reasons." The remaining 17 include 8 B-tier proposals with clear requirements for inclusion, 7 C-tier proposals below the line, and 2 TBD proposals awaiting mainnet evidence. The cluster stresses that success is measured not only by what is shipped but also by what is strategically declined, ensuring a focused and manageable scope for each upgrade.

The community is strongly encouraged to engage with this tier list. An AMA (Ask Me Anything) session is scheduled for September 16 at 2 PM UTC on r/ethereum, where the tier list is expected to be a primary topic of discussion. Questions can be submitted ahead of time via a provided form. Champions and supporters of non-A-tier or declined EIPs are particularly welcome to provide pushback and further insights, reinforcing the transparent and iterative nature of Ethereum’s governance and development. This ongoing engagement ensures that the protocol’s evolution remains community-driven and responsive to the needs of its diverse ecosystem.