Layla Zulfa
Last June, the Ethereum Foundation introduced its "Protocol" initiative, a strategic framework designed to streamline and organize core development efforts around three pivotal objectives: Scale L1, Scale Blobs, and Improve UX. More than a year later, as the blockchain landscape continues its rapid evolution, the Protocol has unveiled a significant restructuring of its focus for 2026, shifting towards three refined tracks: Scale, Improve UX, and the newly established Harden the L1. This evolution reflects a proactive approach to address the network’s burgeoning needs, consolidate interdependent development streams, and reinforce the foundational principles of decentralization, security, and censorship resistance.
The year 2025 proved to be exceptionally productive for Ethereum at the protocol level, marked by two major network upgrades and substantial progress across all initially defined fronts. These achievements laid critical groundwork for the network’s long-term vision, particularly in accommodating the growing demands of its Layer 2 (L2) ecosystem and improving the overall user experience. The strategic decision to reorganize for 2026 underscores a commitment to adapt development methodologies to match the increasing complexity and scale of the Ethereum network, ensuring a more holistic and efficient path forward.
A Retrospective on Ethereum’s Monumental 2025 Achievements
The past year was a landmark period for Ethereum, witnessing the successful deployment of two transformative network upgrades that significantly advanced its capabilities. These upgrades, alongside other key developments, addressed critical areas from transaction processing and data availability to validator management and user interaction.
The first major milestone was the Pectra upgrade, which went live on the mainnet in May 2025. Pectra was a multifaceted enhancement, introducing several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that brought immediate benefits to the network. Central among these was EIP-7702, a groundbreaking innovation that enabled Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to temporarily execute smart contract code. This feature was hailed by developers as a crucial step towards native account abstraction, unlocking advanced functionalities such as transaction batching, which can reduce gas costs for complex decentralized applications (dApps); gas sponsorship, allowing new users to onboard without needing to acquire ETH for transaction fees; and social recovery mechanisms, enhancing the security and accessibility of user accounts. The ability for EOAs to temporarily behave like smart contracts simplifies complex interactions, making the user experience more akin to traditional web services, a long-sought goal for broader crypto adoption.
Beyond user-centric improvements, Pectra also delivered substantial scaling enhancements. EIP-7691 notably doubled blob throughput, significantly increasing the capacity for storing off-chain data that Layer 2 solutions rely on for cost-effective transactions. Blobs, introduced with the Dencun upgrade, are a cornerstone of Ethereum’s scaling strategy, providing dedicated data space for rollups. Doubling their throughput directly translates to lower transaction costs and higher transaction volumes on L2s. Furthermore, EIP-7251 raised the maximum effective validator balance to 2,048 ETH, providing greater flexibility for large stakers and potentially simplifying staking pool management. This adjustment aimed to optimize the staking landscape, allowing for more efficient capital allocation within the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. Finally, EIP-6110 dramatically shortened validator onboarding times, reducing the waiting period for new validators to join the network. This improvement directly contributes to the decentralization and robustness of the network by making participation more accessible and responsive to demand.
The second monumental upgrade of the year, Fusaka, was deployed in December 2025. Fusaka’s primary contribution was the integration of EIP-7594, known as PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling), onto the mainnet. PeerDAS represents a paradigm shift in how validators handle blob data. Instead of requiring validators to download and store all blob data in its entirety, PeerDAS enables them to sample small portions of the data. This innovative approach significantly reduces bandwidth requirements for nodes, making it easier and more cost-effective to run an Ethereum validator. The immediate implication of PeerDAS was an astounding 8x increase in theoretical blob capacity, paving the way for even more massive scaling of Layer 2 solutions. This increased capacity is crucial for accommodating the projected growth of L2 transactions, making Ethereum’s data availability layer more robust and efficient. Alongside PeerDAS, two Blob Parameter Only (BPO) forks were shipped, marking the initial steps in a planned ramp-up from 6 blobs per block towards much higher targets, further solidifying Ethereum’s commitment to data availability scaling.
Beyond these major upgrades, 2025 saw other critical developments. The Ethereum community successfully raised the mainnet gas limit from an initial 30 million to an unprecedented 60 million. This marked the first significant increase since 2021, reflecting careful consideration of network health and node operator capabilities while simultaneously boosting transaction capacity. Raising the gas limit allows more operations to be processed per block, directly impacting the network’s throughput. Additionally, History Expiry was implemented, removing pre-Merge data from full nodes and saving hundreds of gigabytes of disk space. This "pruning" mechanism is vital for maintaining node accessibility and preventing the blockchain from becoming prohibitively large, ensuring that running a full node remains feasible for a broader range of participants.
On the User Experience (UX) front, substantial progress was also made. The Open Intents Framework reached production readiness, providing a standardized way for users to express their desired outcomes, which can then be fulfilled by various protocols or aggregators. This framework aims to abstract away the technical complexities of interacting with dApps, making Web3 applications more intuitive. Implementations of L1 fast confirmation rules progressed across consensus clients, leading to quicker transaction finality and improved responsiveness for users. Furthermore, interoperability standards such as ERC-7930 + ERC-7828 for Interoperable Addresses and Names and ERC-7888 for Crosschain Broadcaster moved forward. These standards are foundational for a future where assets and identities can seamlessly move across different L2s and even other blockchain networks, fostering a more connected and efficient ecosystem.
The Strategic Reorientation for an Impactful 2026
While 2025 was undeniably a year of profound accomplishments, the Ethereum Foundation recognized that the evolving landscape and the successful completion of several near-term objectives necessitated an evolution in its organizational structure. The initial "Protocol" framework, with its focus on "get the gas limit up, get PeerDAS shipped, and improve UX," served its purpose exceptionally well in guiding the Pectra and Fusaka upgrades. However, with these significant milestones achieved, the opportunity arose to adopt a more high-level, integrated approach to development.
Starting in 2026, the "Protocol" initiative has been reorganized into three distinct, yet interconnected, tracks: Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1. This restructuring aims to foster greater synergy, address long-term challenges more comprehensively, and ensure that Ethereum’s core properties are maintained and enhanced even as the network scales.
1. The Scale Track: Unifying L1 Execution and Data Availability
The new Scale track, led by Ansgar Dietrichs, Marius van der Wijden, and Raúl Kripalani, represents a strategic consolidation of the previously separate "Scale L1" and "Scale Blobs" initiatives. This merger acknowledges a crucial practical reality: the work of increasing L1 execution capacity and expanding data availability throughput are deeply intertwined. For instance, increases in the gas limit, which directly impact L1 execution, are heavily dependent on the performance and efficiency of execution engines. Similarly, the scaling of blob data, vital for L2s, relies on complex networking and consensus changes that often touch the same client codebases.
Bringing these efforts under a single, unified umbrella is expected to significantly accelerate development and reduce potential friction points. It enables a more holistic view of scaling challenges, allowing developers to optimize both execution and data availability in concert, rather than in isolation. The primary focus of this track will be to push the boundaries of Ethereum’s capacity, aiming for even higher gas limits and vastly expanded data availability. This will not only lead to lower transaction fees for users on both L1 and L2s but also enable a new generation of more data-intensive decentralized applications that require robust and affordable data availability. The ultimate goal is to cement Ethereum’s position as the secure and decentralized settlement layer for a global, high-throughput rollup-centric ecosystem.
2. The Improve UX Track: Pioneering Native Account Abstraction and Seamless Interoperability
The Improve UX track, helmed by Barnabé Monnot and Matt Garnett, builds upon the foundations laid in 2025, but with a sharper, more concentrated focus on two areas deemed highest-leverage for Ethereum’s usability in 2026: native account abstraction and interoperability. This track recognizes that for Ethereum to achieve mainstream adoption, the user experience must be as intuitive and frictionless as possible, rivaling that of traditional web applications.
On the front of account abstraction (AA), EIP-7702 was an important first step, offering a glimpse into a future where EOAs can mimic smart contract functionalities. However, the ultimate vision for AA is a state where smart contract wallets become the default, operating seamlessly without the need for bundlers, relayers, or additional gas overhead. This means moving beyond EOA-based authentication to a system where accounts are inherently programmable, allowing for features like multi-factor authentication, customizable spending limits, and automated transaction logic directly at the protocol level. Proposals like EIP-7701 and the more recent EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions) are actively pushing towards embedding this smart account logic directly into the protocol. This work is not merely about convenience; it also crucially intersects with post-quantum readiness. As quantum computing advances, the security of current cryptographic primitives like ECDSA (used in Ethereum’s current signature scheme) could be compromised. Native AA provides a natural and flexible migration path, allowing accounts to upgrade their authentication mechanisms to quantum-resistant signatures, thereby future-proofing the network’s security. Complementary to this, several proposals are in development to make the verification of these complex quantum-resistant signatures much more gas-efficient within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
For interoperability, the track will build upon the foundation laid by the Open Intents Framework. The overarching goal remains to facilitate seamless, trust-minimized interactions across various Layer 2 solutions. As Ethereum moves towards a rollup-centric roadmap, the ability for users and applications to interact effortlessly between different L2s (e.g., sending assets from Optimism to Arbitrum) is paramount. Continued progress on faster L1 confirmations and shorter L2 settlement times directly supports this objective, reducing latency and enhancing the responsiveness of cross-L2 operations. Analysts suggest that robust interoperability is key to unlocking the full potential of Ethereum’s scaling strategy, preventing fragmentation and fostering a unified user experience across the entire ecosystem.
3. The Harden the L1 Track: Safeguarding Ethereum’s Core Principles
The Harden the L1 track is a significant new addition to the "Protocol" initiative, led by Fredrik Svantes, Parithosh Jayanthi, and Thomas Thiery. Its establishment reflects a growing understanding that as Ethereum scales and evolves, dedicated focus is required to ensure the network retains the fundamental properties that make it valuable: security, decentralization, and censorship resistance. This track is not about adding new features but rather about reinforcing the existing bedrock of the Ethereum blockchain.
"Harden the L1" encompasses several critical areas. It will involve rigorous efforts to enhance the security of the protocol, through continuous auditing, formal verification, and proactive threat modeling. This is crucial as the network’s complexity increases and the value secured on it continues to grow. A core pillar of Ethereum’s ethos is decentralization, and this track will focus on initiatives that promote client diversity (ensuring no single client dominates the network), reduce node resource requirements to make running a node more accessible, and explore mechanisms to further distribute power within the consensus layer. Finally, censorship resistance is a paramount concern, particularly in the context of transaction ordering and validator behavior. This track will advance research and implementation of mechanisms like enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS), which aims to mitigate the negative effects of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) and reduce the potential for transaction censorship by separating the roles of block proposal and block building. By dedicating a specific track to these core properties, the Ethereum Foundation signals its unwavering commitment to maintaining the integrity and resilience of the network amidst ongoing development and scaling efforts.
Looking Ahead: Glamsterdam, Hegotá, and Beyond
The roadmap for 2026 is ambitious and clearly defined, with the new track structure poised to drive significant advancements. Glamsterdam is slated as the next major network upgrade, targeted for the first half of 2026, with Hegotá planned to follow later in the year. These upgrades are expected to bring forth a wave of transformative features, directly reflecting the focus of the newly structured Protocol initiatives.
Among the key ambitions for these upcoming upgrades are the implementation of parallel execution, a technical innovation that would allow multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously, dramatically increasing throughput without compromising security. Further significantly higher gas limits are also on the horizon, building on the 2025 increases to accommodate even greater transaction volumes. The push for enshrined PBS will continue, aiming to formalize proposer-builder separation within the protocol itself, a critical step for mitigating MEV and enhancing censorship resistance. Continued blob scaling will further expand data availability for L2s, solidifying the rollup-centric future. Moreover, advancements in native account abstraction will bring Ethereum closer to a truly user-friendly experience, while ongoing efforts in post-quantum security will ensure the network’s long-term cryptographic resilience against emerging threats.
The Ethereum Foundation has emphasized its commitment to transparency, promising continued track-level updates, mirroring the successful communication strategy of the past year. Interested individuals and developers are encouraged to visit protocol.ethereum.foundation for the latest information and opportunities to get involved. The message from the core development community is clear: the pace of innovation remains high, and the focus is squarely on "keeping shipping" the foundational technologies that will empower a global, decentralized future.
