Weekly Ethereum Research Report (2026-03-02 ~ 2026-03-06)
TL;DR
- Bottom line: Vitalik's Strawmap completion, the EIP-8141 Headliner Breakout, and Lido V3 Phase 3 going live overlapped, putting the Glamsterdam·Hegota roadmap and the operator ecosystem into a transition period at the same time.
- Numbers: This week had 7 protocol calls held and 1 cancellation, ACDC #176, while official Forkcast stage changes were 0, marking 16 consecutive days unchanged.
- Action: Operators and researchers should prioritize tracking whether EIP-8141 is confirmed at ACDE #232 on 3/12, the Glamsterdam devnet-0 schedule, and changes among Lido Curated/Professional Operators.
Top 3 Takeaways
Vitalik completed the Strawmap comment series, presenting The Scourge's 3-stage MEV mitigation roadmap (ePBS → Big FOCIL → encrypted mempool) and explicitly naming privacy as a "non-negotiable core property" of Ethereum.
자세히 읽기
Concluding the 6-part Strawmap comment series (Fast L1, PQ, Scaling, AA, EL Overhaul, Block Building Pipeline), Vitalik presented a multi-stage MEV mitigation path after Glamsterdam's ePBS: Big FOCIL (reducing the builder role to MEV ordering) → encrypted mempool (blocking sandwich/frontrunning at the source) → anonymous routing. He also declared "censorship resistance, open source, privacy" as non-negotiable core properties, adding momentum to the direction of privacy EIPs such as EIP-8182 (Protocol-Enshrined Privacy Pool) and Private ERC-1155.
EIP-8141 Frame Transaction held a dedicated Headliner Breakout and is effectively confirmed as the Hegota EL headliner — an official decision is expected at ACDE #232 (3/12).
자세히 읽기
After three EL teams — Erigon, Geth, and Nimbus EL — supported EIP-8141 at ACDE #231 (2/26), a dedicated Headliner Breakout #1 was held on 3/5 to discuss adding native EOA support and responding to Georgios' criticism. Official Scheduled registration is expected at ACDE #232 (3/12), and the fork structure of Hegota = CL FOCIL (EIP-7805) + EL Frame Transaction (EIP-8141) is just before confirmation.
Lido V3 Phase 3 went live, activating permissionless stETH minting, and the operator ecosystem entered a structural transition period with Chorus One's voluntary Curated Set exit and Luganodes' Professional Operator application.
자세히 읽기
Phase 3, the final stage of Lido V3, officially launched, turning stETH minting permissionless across all stVaults and activating the 4-tier Identified Node Operator framework. Meanwhile, three operator changes were concentrated in one week: Chorus One voluntarily exited the Curated Set due to its Bitwise acquisition (single-entity rule), FP Validated applied as a Basic Operator, and Luganodes ($2.5B AUM, 300K ETH) applied as a Professional Operator.
1. Roadmap/Upgrade Change Highlights
Vitalik Strawmap Comment Series Completion (6 Parts)
| Part | Topic | Key Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1~5 | Fast L1, PQ, Scaling, AA, EL Overhaul | Posted the previous week (2/25~3/1) |
| 6 (3/2) | Block Building Pipeline | 3-stage MEV mitigation roadmap: ePBS (Glamsterdam) → Big FOCIL (Hegota+) → encrypted mempool → anonymous routing |
Vitalik diagnosed that ePBS alone does not solve "builder centralization itself," and proposed sequentially introducing Big FOCIL (marking almost all transactions as must-include and reducing the builder role to MEV-related ordering) and encrypted mempool (encrypting transaction contents until block inclusion).
Glamsterdam (Stable)
| Item | Status | This Week's Change |
|---|---|---|
| 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% figures substantially updated (Repricings #3) |
| EIP-8038 (State Access Gas) | Considered | Benchmarking in progress |
| EIP-8037 (State Creation Gas) | Considered | devnet-4 deferred, test framework being built |
| Gas repricing overall | 20 Considered | 16 consecutive days with no Forkcast changes |
Hegota (Key Change)
| Item | Status | This Week's Change |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-7805 (FOCIL) | Scheduled | CL headliner maintained. devnet-0 timeline rolled over 2 weeks due to ACDC #176 cancellation |
| EIP-8141 (Frame Transaction) | Not registered 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 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 stage structure confirmed: devnet-0 (lean consensus interop) ~ devnet-5 (tooling) |
New EIPs/ERCs
| EIP/ERC | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-8177 | Engine Communication Protocols | Standardization of CL-EL communication protocols (Giulio2002/Erigon) |
| EIP-8178 | SSZ for Engine API | Engine API transition to SSZ |
| 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 Monday 3/2 vs Friday 3/6)
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 reflection. The 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. Key Validator/Infrastructure Issues
Direct Impact on Validator Operations
| Priority | Item | Details | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 stopped (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 with DVT heterogeneous configuration. 30% adoption threshold | 3/4 |
| Medium-term | GOOSE-3 Progress Update | stVaults Phase 3 live, Earn Vaults upcoming, Q2 LDO buyback (condition: ETH $3,000↑) | 3/4 |
| Long-term | PQ quantum-safe wallet proposal | Transitional protection before PQ migration using AA-based ephemeral keys. ~100K gas overhead | 3/5 |
Infrastructure Monitoring Status
| Item | Status | This Week's Change |
|---|---|---|
| ePBS devnet-0 | Entering interop stage | 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. Key Protocol Call Decisions
This week had 7 calls held + 1 cancellation (ACDC #176):
| Date | Call | Number | Key Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 environment deployment (leading). Spec PR #29 merged, ePBS integration sequencing discussed |
| 3/4 (Wed) | PQ Interop | #029 | Devnet-3 5-client interoperability achieved. Decision to transition to Devnet-4 |
| 3/4 (Wed) | PQTS | #003 | NTT precompile discussion — lattice-based cryptography acceleration |
| 3/4 (Wed) | ETM | #001 | First Encrypt The Mempool call! LUCID+UEEM technical coordination, AEAD/DEM encapsulation |
| 3/4 (Wed) | Repricings | #003 | EIP-7904 MULMOD +100%, ECPAIRING -70% figure update |
| 3/5 (Thu) | EIP-8141 Headliner | #001 | Frame Transaction EOA support, response to Georgios' criticism |
| 3/5 (Thu) | ACDC | #176 | Cancelled — transitioned to async on Discord. CL decision delayed 2 weeks (→ ACDC #177 3/19) |
Major Technical Decision Details
1. EIP-8141 → just before confirmation as Hegota EL headliner:
- ACDE #231 3:1 client support → dedicated Breakout held → official confirmation expected at ACDE #232 (3/12)
- Technical issues discussed: native EOA support, PQ off-ramp, native AA, etc.
2. FCR spec convergence accelerating:
- PR #29 merged (
is_confirmed_chain_safebug fix), PR #30 opened - Lodestar leads with staking environment deployment — exchanges will see FCR automatically reflected in the EL
safetag
3. PQ stack technical maturity surged:
- 5-client interoperability in Devnet-3 (Zeam, Ream, Lantern, Ethlambda, leanSpec)
- SSZ signature container deemed unnecessary, "Average target sum" method adopted (ZK-friendly)
- leanVM XMSS 30% performance improvement
4. Glamsterdam gas repricing figures changed substantially:
- MULMOD 8 → 16 (+100%), KECCAK256 -33%, ECPAIRING -70%
- Erigon/Reth data supplementation needed. DeFi/zkEVM protocol impact analysis needed
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 | Finalize versioning model + 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 Breakout call for L1 ZK proofs (15:00 UTC) |
| 3/11 (Tue) | EIP Editing #092 | New EIPs: Engine API Comm Channels, Native Key Delegation, Composable Tx |
| 3/12 (Thu) | ACDE #232 | Official EIP-8141 headliner confirmation + Glamsterdam devnet-0 check — 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: ACDE #232 on 3/12 is expected to decide whether EIP-8141 Frame Transaction is officially confirmed as the Hegota EL headliner and the Glamsterdam devnet-0 schedule. On 3/11, PQ Interop #30 and L1-zkEVM Breakout #1 will be held back-to-back, allowing observers to check 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 cancellation | +2 (ACDT#72, FCR#4, PQI#29, PQTS#3, ETM#1, Repricings#3, EIP-8141 Breakout#1) |
| Forkcast status changes | 1 | 0 | Stable for 16 consecutive days |
| 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