The Ethereum Foundation announced that its core research coordination team, Protocol Cluster, has released two new articles assessing the upcoming network upgrade "Hegotá." The "Hegotá EIP Opinion Post and Tier List" evaluates and ranks the 62 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) currently proposed, marking the first time the team has published a unified EIP rating list for a single network upgrade.

About 60 researchers, engineers, and domain experts from nine teams under Protocol Cluster participated in the review, submitting a total of 397 rating opinions and engaging in live discussions on controversial proposals.

The rating list categorizes proposals into six tiers: S (must go live), A (expected to go live), B (needs further validation), C (lower priority), TBD (waiting for mainnet data), and DFI (not included). Ultimately, 2 proposals received an S rating, 15 received an A rating, while 28 proposals were rated as not included, with the remaining proposals distributed among B, C, or TBD categories. Historically, major Ethereum upgrades typically include only 5 to 15 EIPs, indicating that most of the current 62 candidate proposals will likely be postponed or abandoned.

Among the proposals rated S, EIP-7805 (FOCIL, Forced Inclusion List) aims to enhance censorship resistance by reducing reliance on centralized block builders; EIP-8141 ("Frame Transactions"), co-authored by Vitalik Buterin and 9 other contributors, also received an S rating. This proposal separates transaction authorization, fee payment, and execution, allowing users to pay gas fees with ERC-20 stablecoins like USDC without holding ETH, while a "sponsoring wallet" pays the ETH protocol fees and collects stablecoins from users as transaction output, supporting atomic batch transactions and key rotation. A-rated proposals include EIP-8369 (defining validator requirements for FOCIL qualification) and EIP-8365 (focusing on eliminating vulnerable cryptographic tokens).

The accompanying articles outline the current and future key directions for the Ethereum protocol layer, with a core long-term goal of achieving quantum resistance for Ethereum Layer 1 (L1) by December 2029. The specific path includes migrating from elliptic curve cryptography to hash-based signature schemes (such as XMSS, SPHINCS+) and STARKs proof systems. Quantum computing researchers have indicated that traditional cryptographic systems, like those used by Bitcoin, could be cracked by quantum computers within 4 to 5 years, adding urgency to this migration plan.

According to current plans, the upgrade codenamed "Glamsterdam" is expected to be implemented in Q4 2026, followed by the "Hegotá" upgrade anticipated in 2027, with specific dates yet to be determined. Client teams must submit their proposal priority rankings by September 10. Protocol Cluster will hold an AMA on Reddit's r/ethereum community on September 16 at 14:00 (UTC) to discuss the Hegotá EIP ratings and key protocol developments with the community. As of September 7, the spot price of Ethereum (ETH) is approximately $2473.34.

Source: Public Information