# Feb 2026 — Week 3

*2026-02-14 ~ 2026-02-20*

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# Weekly Ethereum Research Report (2026-02-14 ~ 2026-02-20)

## Key 3-Line Summary

1. **FOCIL (EIP-7805) was confirmed as Hegota Scheduled at ACDC #175 (2/19).**

    With unanimous agreement from all 5 CL client teams, this milestone broke the 11-day EIP status freeze and effectively defined Hegota as the "censorship resistance upgrade." Vitalik stated on the same day: "FOCIL is already a significant hardening of Ethereum."

2. **EF published Protocol Priorities 2026, reorganizing into "Scale + Improve UX + Harden the L1" tracks.**

    The new "Harden the L1" track is the key addition, making FOCIL, post-quantum security, and censorship resistance explicit priorities. Simultaneously, Encrypt The Mempool Session 0 was held, initiating the formalization of UEEM (EIP-8105) and LUCID.

3. **Glamsterdam gas repricing transitioned from theory to practice.**

    Repricings #2 confirmed calldata pricing at 64/64, adopted subcall reservoir Option 1, and launched GasRepricing.com for exchange/dApp outreach. While DevNet-3 was postponed to 3/4, infrastructure testing continues with bal-devnet-2 stability recovery and Fusaka blob-devnet-0 launch.

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## 1. Roadmap/Upgrade Highlights

### Glamsterdam (Mid-2026 Target)

| Item | Status | This Week's Changes |
|------|--------|---------------------|
| EIP-7732 (ePBS) | **Scheduled** | ePBS DevNet-0: targeting 2-3 CL clients by end of Feb. Lighthouse Kurtosis config confirmed |
| EIP-7928 (BALs) | **Scheduled** | **Max items cap set** — BAL size constraints for network load management. DOS protection PR 11234 |
| EIP-7975 (eth/70) | **Considered (New)** | Added to Considered on 2/16. Partial block receipt lists for large receipt sync |
| EIP-8159 (eth/71) | **Considered (New)** | Added to Considered on 2/16. BAL P2P exchange protocol — networking complement for BALs |
| EIP-8037 (State Creation Gas) | Considered | Confirmed for DevNet-3. Subcall reservoir Option 1 adopted at Repricings #2 |
| EIP-7976 (Calldata Floor) | Considered | **Calldata pricing confirmed at 64 gas/byte** (zero + non-zero equal). Worst-case block: 3.5MB → 2MB |
| EIP-2780 (Intrinsic Tx Gas) | Considered | Draft specs/tests ready. Cold EOA access reduced to 500 gas |
| Gas Repricing Bundle | Considered (20 total) | Repricings #2 completed. GasRepricing.com launched, Coinbase/Kraken outreach begun |

### Hegota (Post-Glamsterdam)

| Item | Status | This Week's Changes |
|------|--------|---------------------|
| EIP-7805 (FOCIL) | **Scheduled (Confirmed!)** | **Upgraded from Considered → Scheduled at ACDC #175.** All 5 CL clients agreed. 2D PeerDAS marked as DFI |
| EIP-8105 (UEEM) | Proposed | Encrypt The Mempool #0 held (2/18). 2-slot execution design discussed. Envelope signer reference added |
| LUCID | EIP in progress | Sealed tx gas limit set to 1/8 of block at ETM #0. EIP to be published within days |
| Quick Slots | Proposal stage | Maintained as non-headliner track |

### Fusaka (Stable Operation)

- blob-devnet-0 live: 20 nodes, ~90% participation, Lighthouse/Prism ready, Teku/Nimbus in progress
- Testing under adverse network conditions: 80ms latency, MEV nodes limited to 2 peers

### Protocol Priorities 2026 (New)

| Track | 2025 | 2026 | Leads |
|-------|------|------|-------|
| **Scale** | Scale L1 + Scale Blobs | Merged — Gas limit 100M+ target | Ansgar Dietrichs, Marius, Raul |
| **Improve UX** | Improve UX | Maintained, AA + interoperability focus | (TBC) |
| **Harden the L1** | (None) | **New** — FOCIL, PQ, censorship resistance | Fredrik, Parithosh, Thomas |

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## 2. EIP Status Changes (Forkcast Mon 2/14 vs Fri 2/20)

### Inclusion Stage Changes Summary

| Change | EIP | Upgrade | Previous | Current | Decision Call |
|--------|-----|---------|----------|---------|---------------|
| **Upgrade** | EIP-7805 (FOCIL) | Hegota | Considered | **Scheduled** | ACDC #175 (2/19) |
| **Added** | EIP-7975 (eth/70) | Glamsterdam | (None) | **Considered** | ACDE #230 (2/12) |
| **Added** | EIP-8159 (eth/71) | Glamsterdam | (None) | **Considered** | ACDE #230 (2/12) |

### Status by Upgrade (as of 2/20)

| Upgrade | Scheduled | Considered | Included | Declined | Withdrawn |
|---------|-----------|------------|----------|----------|-----------|
| **Glamsterdam** | 2 (7732, 7928) | **20** (+2) | - | 33 | 4 |
| **Hegota** | **1 (7805)** (+1) | 0 (-1) | - | - | - |
| **Fusaka** | - | - | 13 | - | - |

**Key Takeaway:** After 11 days of no changes (2/8–2/19), the FOCIL Scheduled confirmation was a landmark decision. Two new networking protocol EIPs (eth/70, eth/71) were added to Glamsterdam Considered, formalizing the networking layer upgrade.

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## 3. Validator/Infrastructure Key Issues

### Direct Validator Impact

| Priority | Item | Details | Timeline |
|----------|------|---------|----------|
| **Urgent** | FOCIL Scheduled Confirmed | CL client implementation begins. Validators must create local inclusion lists. P2P subnet participation required | Hegota target |
| **Urgent** | ePBS DevNet-0 | Targeting 2-3 CL clients by end of Feb. Proposer-Builder separation infra testing begins | End of Feb |
| **Medium** | ETM Mempool Encryption | If UEEM/LUCID included in Hegota, validators must fundamentally revise MEV strategies | Hegota |
| **Medium** | Gas Repricing | Calldata 64/64, state creation gas increase → block revenue composition changes | Glamsterdam |
| **Long-term** | Post-Quantum Transition | 200K gas EVM verification demonstrated at PQTS #002. Long-term BLS signature replacement | 2027+ |

### Infrastructure Monitoring Status

| Item | Status | Notes |
|------|--------|-------|
| bal-devnet-2 | Stability recovered | Weekend bug rolled back, 100% participation restored |
| bal-devnet-3 | **Postponed to 3/4** | EIP-8037 test failure concerns, prep time needed |
| ePBS-devnet-0 | In progress | 2/18 target unrealistic → readjusted to end of Feb |
| Fusaka blob-devnet-0 | Live | 20 nodes, ~90% participation |
| perf-devnet-2 | **Dead** | All EL clients down, CL chain relaunch needed |
| JSON-RPC Versioning | Exploration | Endpoint-level versioning proposal, community feedback requested |

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## 4. Protocol Call Key Decisions

**7 protocol calls** this week:

| Date | Call | Key Outcome |
|------|------|-------------|
| 2/16 (Mon) | ACDT #070 | DevNet-3 → postponed to 3/4, Fusaka blob-devnet-0 launched |
| 2/17 (Tue) | TLI #003 | ZKP architecture draft presented, 40KB proof size |
| 2/18 (Wed) | Repricings #002 | **Calldata 64/64 confirmed**, subcall reservoir Option 1 adopted |
| 2/18 (Wed) | ETM #000 | **New series!** UEEM 2-slot design, LUCID 1/8 gas limit |
| 2/18 (Wed) | PQTS #002 | Hash-based signatures 3KB, **EVM 200K gas verification demo** |
| 2/18 (Wed) | AWD #038 | ERC-7730 V2, Clear Signing live demo |
| 2/19 (Thu) | **ACDC #175** | **FOCIL Hegota Scheduled confirmed!** All 5 CL teams agreed |

### Key Technical Decisions

**Censorship Resistance 3-Layer Architecture Emerging:**

| Layer | Mechanism | Status |
|-------|-----------|--------|
| Fork-choice | FOCIL (EIP-7805) | Hegota **Scheduled** |
| Mempool | UEEM (EIP-8105) + LUCID | Hegota **Proposed** |
| Proposer | ePBS (EIP-7732) | Glamsterdam **Scheduled** |

**Post-Quantum Practicality Verified:**
- Hash-based signature Sphincs+: 2^64 → 2^20~2^40 reduction yields ~3KB
- Shrinks scheme: first signature ~300 bytes (smallest possible PQ signature)
- Solidity implementation: C2 scheme **<200K gas** per verification

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## 5. Next Week Key Schedule

| Date | Event | Key Agenda |
|------|-------|------------|
| 2/23 (Mon) | ACDT #071 | blob-devnet-0, bal-devnet-3, ePBS-devnet-0, EIP-8037 |
| 2/24 (Tue) | EIP Editing #90 | EIP process updates |
| 2/25 (Tue) | PQ Interop #28 | PQ devnet-1/2/3, tooling, leanVM |
| **2/26 (Wed)** | **ACDE #231** | **Hegota EL headliner final decision!** EIP-8105 (UEEM) inclusion |
| 3/3 (Tue) | FCR #4 | Fast Confirmation Rule client implementation status |
| 3/4 (Tue) | bal-devnet-3 | Glamsterdam DevNet-3 launch (rescheduled target) |

**Next Week's Top Watch:** ACDE #231 on 2/26 will finalize the Hegota EL headliner. If UEEM (EIP-8105) is upgraded to Scheduled, Hegota becomes a "FOCIL + Encrypted Mempool" censorship resistance dual upgrade.

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## Weekly Key Metrics

| Metric | Last Week (2/13) | This Week (2/20) | Change |
|--------|-----------------|------------------|--------|
| Glamsterdam Scheduled | 2 | 2 | - |
| Glamsterdam Considered | 18 | **20** | +2 (eth/70, eth/71) |
| Hegota Scheduled | 0 | **1** | **+1 (FOCIL!)** |
| Hegota Proposed | 1 | 1 | - |
| Fusaka Included | 13 | 13 | - |
| Weekly Protocol Calls | 6 | **7** | +1 (ETM new series) |
| Forkcast Status Changes | 0 | **3** | FOCIL Scheduled + eth/70,71 added |

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*Written by: @r2jamong*<br>
*Data Sources: ethereum/pm, ethereum/forkcast, Ethereum Magicians, ethresear.ch*