There are a lot of Ethereum All Core Developer calls that follow, so this “Checkpoint” series aims for high-level updates approximately every 4-8 weeks, depending on what’s happening in core development. See previous update here.
If you enjoy reading Core Dev updates, you may also want to learn that Forkcast now publishes call summaries, discussions, and transcripts for every All Core Dev (ACD) call and some breakout calls, usually available within a few hours of the call.
tl;dr:
The Fusaka upgrade comes with the ability to adjust blob settings independently of fork cycles. The next upgrade, Glamsterdam, is full scope and progress is underway while the main features of the next upgrade, Hegotá, are now proposed, with a proposal deadline set for February 4.
Fusaka
Since the last checkpoint, the Fusaka upgrade has gone live, bringing scaling in the form of data availability sampling to Ethereum.
@ethereum and Vitalik took to Twitter to explain PeerDAS, why secure scaling is important, and how these improvements fit into the larger scheme of things.
BPO forks
Blob Only parameter forks are now a reality – Ethereum can now and has already increased the number of blobs without having to wait for an entire fork cycle, adapting as needed for L2 usage. The first two BPO forks were successfully tested and integrated into Fusaka, with the first going live a few days after Fusaka and the second in early January. Ethereum now targets 14 blobs per block and allows a maximum of 21, a 2.3x increase for L2 data space compared to before Fusaka!
Developers talked about what was needed to be ready for a third BPO fork, but agreed that it was not a priority until blob usage increased to utilize existing augmentations.
Glamsterdam
Progress on Glamsterdam’s two headliners, Proposal Builder Separation (ePBS) and Block Level Access Lists (BAL), is progressing, but ePBS is a much more complex change than BALs, so even though the latter already have devnets, it will be a little longer before we see a devnet for ePBS.
Chronology
As with every fork, the headliners will need to be brought to a stable place on the devnets before they start adding variables in the form of more EIPs. While the developers ultimately reduced the list of proposed non-flagship features from 50 to a more manageable set of 17 necessary, high-impact features, they will add these features to devnets in small batches until the fork is ready. If any prove problematic or could cause the overall fork to be delayed too far, they can choose to remove them from the “Considered” set. The full list of features considered is as follows:
- EIP-2780: Reduce Embedded Transaction Gas
- EIP-7688: consensus data structures compatible with later versions
- EIP-7708: ETH transfers issue log
- EIP-7778: Block gas accounting without reimbursement
- EIP-7843: SLOTNUM opcode
- EIP-7904: General repricing
- EIP-7954: Increase maximum contract size
- EIP-7976: Increase call data floor cost
- EIP-7981: increase access list cost
- EIP-7997: deterministic factory pre-deployment
- EIP-8024: SWAPN, DUPN, EXCHANGE backwards compatible
- EIP-8037: Increase in gas cost for state creation
- EIP-8038: Increase in the cost of state access gas
- EIP-8045: exclude reduced validators from proposals
- EIP-8061: Increase churn on exits and consolidations
- EIP-8070: Sparse Blobpool
- EIP-8080: Let outputs use consolidation queue
Expect better timing once we have a first stable ePBS devnet, and then even more clarity once each EIP has been tested in a devnet.
Hégota
A quick note on the name change: Star H’s original name, Heka, was changed to Heze after a community developer noted that “Heka” was not in the International Union of Astronomers catalog, as were all of the previously chosen star names. The name of the fork is Heze + Bogotá: Hegotá.
FOCIL
Fork Choice Inclusion Lists (FOCIL), a censorship resistance mechanism, have been moved from Glamsterdam to reduce the scope of the fork. Given its strong support among core developers and the Ethereum community at large, it has been moved to Considered status for Hegotá and will be evaluated alongside all other flagship proposals – as of this article, there is only one competing proposal.
See an overview of FOCIL and its readiness for Hegotá here.
Chronology
Anyone can submit a headlining feature for Hegotá before the February 4 deadline using the Ethereum Magicians forum template.
Proposals will then be presented during ACD calls by the proponent and community feedback will be solicited. The goal is to decide on Hegota’s flagship features by February 26. Following this decision, minor (non-headlining) features may be proposed – a deadline for these proposals will be given, so be sure to follow Checkpoint. As with headlining proposals, anyone can propose a non-headliner – they just have to be willing to see it through.
January 8 – February 4: Headlining proposals ( NOW )
February 5 – February 26: Headlining discussion and finalization
30 days after the headliner’s decision, deadline to be determined: Non-flagship EIP proposals
Process
If you’ve ever wondered how someone gets a feature they want in Ethereum, there is a 2026 guide to guiding a feature into a fork here. A proposed feature for Ethereum, called the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP), is first specified using the very first EIP as a guide: EIP-1, then proposed during a designated window and championed throughout the process by a technical point of contact.
Going through the 50 non-flagship features proposed for Glamsterdam was a beast and everyone felt it. This fork having so many proposals may be the result of an increased number of high context participants or the result of a slightly clearer process – the developers know this now. When And how offer their functionalities. Since customers and testing teams are the ones actually doing the work of implementing these changes, they should familiarize themselves with the proposals and make recommendations on the most urgent, high-impact changes. Going through 50 specifications to make informed recommendations is a lot of homework!
I expect more of Hegotá’s headliner proposals to compete with FOCIL and crypto mempools. FOCIL is a multi-layered EIP, meaning it touches both the consensus and execution layers and particularly the engine API, making coupling with another complex functionality change somewhat complicated. There have been discussions around 6-second slots, but it is unclear whether this will be offered for Hegotá or whether he will wait for I-star. Regardless of which major feature you prefer, I suggest actively showing your support during the February discussion period.
Relevant ACD calls:
(November 14 – January 19)
ACDT: 66, 65, 64, 63, 62
ACDC: 172, 171, 170
ACDE: 228, 227, 226, 225
