Weekly Ethereum Research Report (2026-03-02 ~ 2026-03-06)
Top 3 Summary
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Vitalik concluded his Strawmap comment series, presenting The Scourge's 3-phase MEV mitigation roadmap (ePBS → Big FOCIL → encrypted mempool) and declaring privacy a "non-negotiable core property" of Ethereum.
Wrapping up the 6-part Strawmap comment series (Fast L1, PQ, Scaling, AA, EL Overhaul, Block Building Pipeline), he outlined a multi-stage MEV mitigation path: ePBS in Glamsterdam, followed by Big FOCIL (reducing the builder role to MEV-related ordering) → encrypted mempool (eliminating sandwich/frontrunning at the source) → anonymous routing. He also declared "censorship resistance, open source, and privacy" as non-negotiable core properties, lending momentum to privacy-focused EIPs such as EIP-8182 (Protocol-Enshrined Privacy Pool) and Private ERC-1155.
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EIP-8141 Frame Transaction held a dedicated Headliner Breakout, effectively confirming it as the Hegota EL headliner — official decision expected at ACDE #232 (3/12).
Following support from three EL teams (Erigon, Geth, Nimbus EL) at ACDE #231 (2/26), a dedicated Headliner Breakout #1 was held on 3/5 to discuss adding EOA native support and addressing Georgios' criticisms. Official Scheduled registration is expected at ACDE #232 (3/12), bringing the Hegota fork structure — CL FOCIL (EIP-7805) + EL Frame Transaction (EIP-8141) — to the verge of confirmation.
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Lido V3 Phase 3 went live, enabling permissionless stETH minting, while Chorus One's voluntary exit from the Curated Set and Luganodes' Professional Operator application signal a structural transition in the operator ecosystem.
Lido V3's final stage, Phase 3, officially launched, enabling permissionless stETH minting across all stVaults and activating the 4-tier Identified Node Operator framework. Meanwhile, Chorus One voluntarily exited the Curated Set due to the Bitwise acquisition (single-entity rule), FP Validated applied as a Basic Operator, and Luganodes ($2.5B AUM, 300K ETH) applied as a Professional Operator — three operator changes concentrated in a single week.
1. Roadmap/Upgrade Highlights
Vitalik Strawmap Comment Series Conclusion (6 Parts)
| Part | Topic | Key Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1~5 | Fast L1, PQ, Scaling, AA, EL Overhaul | Published previous week (2/25~3/1) |
| 6 (3/2) | Block Building Pipeline | 3-phase MEV mitigation roadmap: ePBS (Glamsterdam) → Big FOCIL (Hegota+) → encrypted mempool → anonymous routing |
Vitalik diagnosed that ePBS alone does not resolve "builder centralization itself," and proposed the sequential introduction of Big FOCIL (designating nearly all transactions as must-include to reduce the builder role to MEV-related ordering) and encrypted mempool (encrypting transaction contents until block inclusion).
Glamsterdam (Stable)
| Item | Status | This Week's Changes |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-7732 (ePBS) | Scheduled | Prysm kurtosis test passed. Entered epbs-devnet-0 interop |
| EIP-7928 (BAL) | Scheduled | bal-devnet-2/3 in progress |
| EIP-7904 (Compute Gas) | Considered | MULMOD +100%, ECPAIRING -70% — major numerical updates (Repricings #3) |
| EIP-8038 (State Access Gas) | Considered | Benchmarking in progress |
| EIP-8037 (State Creation Gas) | Considered | Deferred to devnet-4, test framework being built |
| Gas repricings overall | Considered (20 items) | 16 consecutive days with no Forkcast changes |
Hegota (Key Changes)
| Item | Status | This Week's Changes |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-7805 (FOCIL) | Scheduled | CL headliner maintained. devnet-0 timeline deferred 2 weeks due to ACDC #176 cancellation |
| EIP-8141 (Frame Transaction) | Not on Forkcast → Headliner Breakout held | Dedicated Breakout #1 held on 3/5. Official confirmation expected at ACDE #232 (3/12) |
| EIP-8105 (UEEM) | Withdrawn | Technical coordination continues at ETM #1 call (independent track) |
Fusaka / PQ (Stable + Accelerating)
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Fusaka Included | 13 items maintained |
| blob-devnet-0 | In progress |
| PQ Devnet-3 → Devnet-4 | 5-client interoperability achieved. SSZ signature container deemed unnecessary |
| PQ Devnet 0~5 structure | Systematic multi-stage structure confirmed: devnet-0 (lean consensus interop) ~ devnet-5 (tooling) |
New EIPs/ERCs
| EIP/ERC | Name | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-8177 | Engine Communication Protocols | CL-EL communication protocol standardization (Giulio2002/Erigon) |
| EIP-8178 | SSZ for Engine API | SSZ transition for Engine API |
| ERC-8180 | Blob Authenticated Messaging (BAM) | Co-proposed by Vitalik. Blob-based P2P messaging |
| ERC-8179 | Blob Space Segments (BSS) | Co-proposed by Vitalik. Blob space segmentation/marketization |
| EIP-8182 | Protocol-Enshrined Privacy Pool | Protocol-level privacy pool |
| Private ERC-1155 | ZK Privacy Multi-Token | Based on Poseidon+Groth16 |
2. EIP Status Changes (Forkcast 3/2 Monday vs 3/6 Friday)
Upgrade Inclusion Status Change Summary
| Change Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Official stage changes | 0 |
| Substantive progress (not reflected in Forkcast) | 1 — EIP-8141 Headliner Breakout held |
16 consecutive days with no Forkcast changes (since 2/20). ACDE #231 (2/26) call notes remain unpublished on D+8, delaying Forkcast updates. Next possible change point is ACDE #232 (3/12).
Status by Upgrade (as of 3/6)
| Upgrade | Scheduled | Considered | Included | Declined | Withdrawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glamsterdam | 2 (7732, 7928) | 20 | - | 33 | 4 |
| Hegota | 1 (7805) | 0 | - | - | 1 (8105) |
| Fusaka | - | - | 13 | - | - |
| Pectra | - | - | 12 (complete) | - | - |
3. Validator/Infrastructure Key Issues
Direct Impact on Validator Operations
| Priority | Item | Details | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urgent | Lido V3 Phase 3 Live | Permissionless stETH minting + 4-tier Identified NO framework. Default Tier 50% Reserve Ratio | Completed 3/3 |
| Urgent | Chorus One Voluntary Curated Set Exit | Bitwise acquisition → single-entity rule applied. Curated Module operator composition change | 3/4 |
| Urgent | Lido ZKsync wstETH Bridge Security Vulnerability | Emergency Brakes triggered → deposits halted (withdrawals normal). Fix requires 3~4 week governance vote | Disclosed 3/3 |
| Medium-term | Luganodes Professional Operator Application | $2.5B AUM, 300K ETH, ISO 27001+SOC 2, Chainproof insurance, 4 EL + 4 CL heterogeneous clients | 3/5 |
| Medium-term | DVT Majority Fork Protection Research | Based on Holesky incident. Defending against majority forks via DVT heterogeneous configuration. 30% adoption threshold | 3/4 |
| Medium-term | GOOSE-3 Progress Update | stVaults Phase 3 live, Earn Vaults launch upcoming, Q2 LDO buyback (ETH $3,000+ condition) | 3/4 |
| Long-term | PQ Quantum-Safe Wallet Proposal | AA-based ephemeral keys for transitional protection before PQ migration. ~100K gas overhead | 3/5 |
Infrastructure Monitoring Status
| Item | Status | This Week's Changes |
|---|---|---|
| ePBS devnet-0 | Entering interop phase | Prysm kurtosis passed. Teku/Lighthouse/Lodestar implementation in progress |
| BAL devnet-2/3 | In progress | All-client readiness check |
| blob-devnet-0 | In progress | Nimbus/Teku BlobNet update requested |
| perf-devnet-3 | Complete | 1.5~2TB state scenario complete, 4TB scale analysis planned |
| EL-CL monitoring dashboard | New | StereumLabs+MigaLabs Grafana dashboard (70+ client combinations, Nimbus bug detection) |
| Engine API evolution | EIP-8177+EIP-8178 | Communication protocol standardization + SSZ Engine API proposal |
| RPC Standards | v1.0.0 finalized | Versioning model + error code -38003 under discussion |
4. Protocol Call Key Decisions
7 calls held + 1 cancelled (ACDC #176) this week:
| Date | Call | Number | Key Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/2 (Mon) | ACDT | #072 | 4 devnets checked simultaneously — ePBS/BAL/Blob/State. ePBS Prysm kurtosis passed |
| 3/3 (Tue) | FCR Breakout | #004 | Lodestar staking deployment (leading). Spec PR #29 merged, ePBS integration sequencing discussed |
| 3/4 (Wed) | PQ Interop | #029 | Devnet-3 5-client interoperability achieved. Transition to Devnet-4 decided |
| 3/4 (Wed) | PQTS | #003 | NTT precompile discussion — lattice-based cryptography acceleration |
| 3/4 (Wed) | ETM | #001 | Encrypt The Mempool first call! LUCID+UEEM technical coordination, AEAD/DEM encapsulation |
| 3/4 (Wed) | Repricings | #003 | EIP-7904 MULMOD +100%, ECPAIRING -70% numerical updates |
| 3/5 (Thu) | EIP-8141 Headliner | #001 | Frame Transaction EOA support, response to Georgios' criticisms |
| 3/5 (Thu) | ACDC | #176 | Cancelled — transitioned to async on Discord. CL decisions delayed 2 weeks (→ ACDC #177 3/19) |
Key Technical Decisions in Detail
1. EIP-8141 → On the verge of Hegota EL headliner confirmation:
- ACDE #231 3:1 client support → dedicated Breakout held → official confirmation expected at ACDE #232 (3/12)
- EOA native support, PQ off-ramp, native AA and other technical issues discussed
2. FCR Spec convergence accelerating:
- PR #29 merged (
is_confirmed_chain_safebug fix), PR #30 opened - Lodestar staking deployment leading — exchanges benefit from FCR automatically reflected in EL
safetag
3. PQ Stack technical maturity surging:
- Devnet-3 achieved 5-client interoperability (Zeam, Ream, Lantern, Ethlambda, leanSpec)
- SSZ signature container deemed unnecessary, "Average target sum" approach adopted (ZK-friendly)
- leanVM XMSS 30% performance improvement
4. Glamsterdam gas repricing values significantly changed:
- MULMOD 8 → 16 (+100%), KECCAK256 -33%, ECPAIRING -70%
- Erigon/Reth data supplementation needed. DeFi/zkEVM protocol impact analysis required
5. Key Schedule Next Week
| Date | Event | Key Agenda |
|---|---|---|
| 3/9 (Mon) | ACDT #073 | 3-track simultaneous check: blob-devnet-0 + bal-devnet-2/3 + epbs-devnet-0 |
| 3/9 (Mon) | RPC Standards #022 | Versioning model finalization + error code -38003 |
| 3/9 (Mon) | Stateless Impl. #049 | Activeness-Based State Access Repricing |
| 3/11 (Tue) | PQ Interop #030 | Multi-stage devnet-0~5 progress + leanVM update (14:00 UTC) |
| 3/11 (Tue) | L1-zkEVM Breakout #001 | First official L1 ZK proof Breakout call (15:00 UTC) |
| 3/11 (Tue) | EIP Editing #092 | Engine API Comm Channels, Native Key Delegation, Composable Tx — new EIPs |
| 3/12 (Thu) | ACDE #232 | EIP-8141 headliner official confirmation + Glamsterdam devnet-0 review — the week's biggest watch point |
| 3/19 (Thu) | ACDC #177 | Glamsterdam CL discussion, Hegota timeline (2-week gap due to ACDC #176 cancellation) |
Next week's biggest watch point: Whether EIP-8141 Frame Transaction is officially confirmed as the Hegota EL headliner and the Glamsterdam devnet-0 schedule at ACDE #232 on 3/12. On 3/11, PQ Interop #30 and L1-zkEVM Breakout #1 are held back-to-back, offering a view of implementation progress on Ethereum's long-term roadmap (Post-Quantum + Verge).
Weekly Key Metrics
| Metric | Last Week (2/27) | This Week (3/6) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glamsterdam Scheduled | 2 | 2 | - |
| Glamsterdam Considered | 20 | 20 | - (16 days unchanged) |
| Hegota Scheduled | 1 | 1 | - |
| Hegota Withdrawn | 1 | 1 | - |
| Hegota EL Headliner | 3:1 support | Headliner Breakout held | Awaiting ACDE #232 confirmation |
| Fusaka Included | 13 | 13 | - |
| Weekly Protocol Calls | 6 | 7 + 1 cancelled | +2 (ACDT#72, FCR#4, PQI#29, PQTS#3, ETM#1, Repricings#3, EIP-8141 Breakout#1) |
| Forkcast Status Changes | 1 | 0 | 16 consecutive days stable |
| Lido Operator Changes | - | 3 | Chorus One exit, FP Validated application, Luganodes application |
| PQ Devnet | Devnet-3 in progress | Devnet-3 complete → Devnet-4 started | 5-client interoperability achieved |
Written by: @r2jamong
Data sources: ethereum/pm, ethereum/forkcast, Ethereum Magicians, ethresear.ch, research.lido.fi