In 2025, Ethereum successfully delivered two hard fork upgrades—Pectra and Fusaka—demonstrating the feasibility of a "twice-yearly hard fork" development cadence. Entering 2026, the Ethereum Foundation released the "Protocol Priorities Update for 2026," systematically planning two named upgrades for the first time: Glamsterdam and Hegotá. These upgrades focus on three main tracks—Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1—driving the institutional evolution of the protocol layer. Together, they mark Ethereum’s transition from fragmented, EIP-centric updates to an era of "predictable engineering delivery."
How Did the Upgrade Cadence Accelerate from "Once a Year" to "Twice a Year"?
Ethereum’s upgrade rhythm is undergoing a structural shift. Since The Merge’s transition to PoS in September 2022, the network has maintained an annual major upgrade schedule, such as Shapella in 2023 and Dencun in 2024. However, the successful rollout of both Pectra and Fusaka in 2025 validated the feasibility of a twice-yearly release cycle. In 2026, Glamsterdam is slated for the first half of the year, with Hegotá to follow in the second half. The two upgrades are designed to build upon each other: Glamsterdam addresses "how to make the network faster," while Hegotá focuses on "how to make the network lighter and more sustainable." This engineered cadence allows ecosystem participants to form stable expectations around protocol evolution, reducing uncertainty in development and deployment.
How the Glamsterdam Upgrade Delivers a Performance Breakthrough with Parallel Processing
Ethereum’s current transaction processing model is fundamentally serial—each transaction executes in order, and nodes process one transaction at a time. The core breakthrough of the Glamsterdam upgrade is the introduction of block-level access lists. By pre-reading the read/write dependencies of transactions, conflict-free transactions can be assigned to different CPU cores for parallel execution, shifting Ethereum from a "single-lane" to a "multi-lane" system.
This parallelism is enabled by EIP-7928, which redefines how gas and state access work. At the same time, the gas limit is planned to increase from the current 60 million to 200 million, theoretically raising TPS from around 1,000 today to tens of thousands. Gas fee repricing is also underway—EIP-7904 will charge based on actual CPU, storage, and bandwidth consumption. After adjustment, gas fees could drop by roughly 78.6%. For example, a Uniswap transaction currently costing $3–8 could fall below $1 after the upgrade. These changes not only lower the barrier for users but also provide a more robust foundation for RWA asset tokenization and high-frequency DeFi interactions.
How ePBS Reshapes the Power Dynamics of Block Building
Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) has long been a core governance challenge for Ethereum. Currently, block building heavily relies on external relay markets; most validators no longer build blocks themselves but depend on a handful of professional builders for transaction ordering and packaging, resulting in de facto power concentration. The Glamsterdam upgrade addresses this with embedded proposer-builder separation, or ePBS (EIP-7732), which hardcodes block building logic into the protocol layer itself.
Under the ePBS mechanism, block builders still compete to create the most profitable blocks, but the bidding and selection process is executed automatically by the protocol, eliminating reliance on external relays. Validators can select the optimal block without depending on centralized infrastructure, and the block-building process becomes more open and transparent. This design prevents builder market dominance from bleeding into staking power, though block building may still concentrate among advanced participants. Thus, ePBS is considered a necessary but not sufficient step for governance. Research shows that protocol-level PBS integration can reduce MEV extraction by about 70%, positively impacting transaction predictability for both independent validators and DeFi protocols.
How FOCIL and Encrypted Mempools Strengthen Censorship Resistance
While ePBS addresses block-building power allocation, it does not directly mitigate censorship risk. To this end, in March 2026, Vitalik Buterin’s technical roadmap prioritized two complementary mechanisms: FOCIL and encrypted mempools.
FOCIL is a protocol-level forced inclusion mechanism—a committee of 16 randomly selected attesters ensures that all valid transactions must be included in a block. If required transactions are missing, the network will outright reject the block. In the "Big FOCIL" model, FOCIL participants could include most transactions themselves, with builders focusing mainly on MEV-related activities, further narrowing the space for censorship.
Encrypted mempools address transaction-layer attack risks. In traditional mempools, transaction data is public, making it easy for bots to monitor and execute frontrunning or sandwich attacks. Encrypted mempools conceal transaction content until block confirmation, significantly reducing the impact of malicious MEV strategies on regular users. Additionally, Buterin emphasized improvements at the transaction entry layer, including anonymous routing via Tor or Ethereum-specific mixers like Flashnet, though this work remains in open design. Together, these three components form Ethereum’s core technical stack for addressing MEV challenges.
Why the Hegotá Upgrade Focuses on State Lightening and Quantum Security
As the second half upgrade of 2026, Hegotá is positioned as a natural extension of Glamsterdam, shifting its core focus to "state lightening" and long-term L1 hardening. As of April 2026, Hegotá’s key features have been finalized—FOCIL (EIP-7805) is selected as the top consensus-layer feature, with a commitment to include account abstraction in the secondary feature set.
The most anticipated technical breakthrough in Hegotá is the Verkle tree. Compared to the current Merkle Patricia tree, Verkle trees can compress block witness sizes from over 10 KB to under 1 KB, reducing node storage requirements by about 90%. This dramatically lowers the hardware barrier for full nodes and paves the way for stateless clients. Additionally, the state expiry mechanism will archive and prune stale or infrequently accessed state data, curbing state bloat and enhancing Ethereum’s long-term sustainability. On the quantum security front, Ethereum plans to gradually achieve quantum resistance over the next four years via the Strawmap roadmap, with Glamsterdam and Hegotá serving as early deployment points for integrating post-quantum signature schemes.
What Engineering Challenges Do Parallel Processing and State Refactoring Face?
Despite clear upgrade goals, actual engineering progress faces significant technical headwinds. Glamsterdam’s development is progressing "slowly but steadily"—ePBS implementation has proven more complex than expected, as the protocol layer must handle "partial blocks" and two-party coordination, touching nearly every part of the tech stack. Gas repricing also presents its own set of intricate challenges. Currently, the first broad Glamsterdam devnet is targeted to launch after the ePBS devnet stabilizes, followed by client releases, security audits, and testnet trials. As for mainnet launch timing, Glamsterdam is unlikely to go live in Q2, and Hegotá’s timeline depends heavily on Glamsterdam’s completion. These engineering challenges remind the market that the real-world pace of technical upgrades requires careful assessment.
Will Mainnet Scaling Change the Role of Layer 2s?
In early 2026, Vitalik Buterin offered a critical reassessment of Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, noting that many Layer 2 networks "haven’t truly scaled Ethereum." Their increasing reliance on centralized components and isolated environments creates tension with the mainnet’s decentralization ethos. As Glamsterdam and Hegotá drive substantial improvements in mainnet throughput, the original vision of "L2s as the core scaling vehicle" is being reconsidered. Ethereum’s strategic focus is partially shifting back to the mainnet, reinforcing L1’s central role through institutionalized scaling and protocol-native security mechanisms.
Meanwhile, lower mainnet fees are impacting validator revenue structures. Data shows that Ethereum’s base layer revenue recently dropped by about 38.3% to $8.43 million—a result anticipated by the roadmap, but one that has sparked debate over how value capture should shift from L1 to stakers. In the future, L1 and L2 may form a new "settlement-service" synergy: L1 will focus on providing top-tier security and settlement finality, while L2s evolve into differentiated service providers in areas like privacy computing, AI-driven applications, and high-frequency trading.
What Are Market Expectations and Feedback for the Two Upgrades?
As of April 13, 2026, the ETH price has been highly volatile under macroeconomic pressure. Although network activity—active addresses and smart contract interactions—has reached all-time highs, there is a clear divergence between price performance and on-chain activity. Industry analysis suggests that while protocol upgrades lay the groundwork for long-term demand, short-term prices are more influenced by macroeconomic factors (such as Federal Reserve policy) and competition from other blockchains.
Nevertheless, institutional interest remains strong. Staked ETH ETFs continue to see significant inflows, indicating that long-term capital still recognizes Ethereum’s structural position among smart contract platforms. The technical improvements from Glamsterdam and Hegotá—from parallel processing to state lightening, from ePBS to FOCIL—all point toward a more efficient, censorship-resistant, and sustainable base layer. Whether these technical advances can translate into ecosystem-wide value capture will depend on post-upgrade developer adoption, application-layer innovation, and changes in the macro environment.
Conclusion
The Glamsterdam and Hegotá upgrades in 2026 form a logically progressive technical roadmap for Ethereum: Glamsterdam, centered on parallel processing and ePBS, tackles today’s most urgent performance bottlenecks and MEV governance issues; Hegotá, supported by FOCIL, Verkle trees, and state expiry, addresses long-term challenges of state bloat and decentralization. These upgrades not only reinforce the "twice-yearly hard fork" engineering rhythm but also mark a pivotal transition for Ethereum from a research-driven project to an institutionalized platform. For industry participants, understanding the technical logic and governance design behind these upgrades is fundamental to grasping Ethereum’s future trajectory.
FAQ
Q: When will the Glamsterdam and Hegotá upgrades go live?
Glamsterdam is planned for the first half of 2026, with Hegotá expected to follow in the second half. The exact launch dates depend on the completion of devnet testing, security audits, and testnet validation. Currently, Glamsterdam is unlikely to launch in Q2.
Q: What is ePBS? How does it differ from existing MEV governance mechanisms?
ePBS is a mechanism that embeds proposer-builder separation directly into the protocol layer. Unlike the current system, which relies on external relays, ePBS automates block bidding and selection within the protocol, reducing reliance on external trust and enhancing transparency and censorship resistance.
Q: How does FOCIL address block censorship?
FOCIL uses a committee of 16 randomly selected attesters to enforce the inclusion of all valid transactions in a block. If required transactions are missing, the network will reject the block, ensuring transaction inclusion rights at the protocol level.
Q: What is the role of Verkle trees in the Hegotá upgrade?
Verkle trees use polynomial commitments to compress block witness sizes from over 10 KB to under 1 KB, reducing node storage needs by about 90%. This provides the technical foundation for stateless clients and lowers the hardware barrier for running full nodes.
Q: What direct impact will the upgrades have on regular users and developers?
For regular users, gas fees are expected to drop significantly and transaction confirmation speeds will improve. For developers, state management becomes lighter and deployment flexibility increases, enabling the creation of more complex and higher-frequency on-chain applications.
