# Mar 2026 — Week 1

*2026-03-02 ~ 2026-03-06*

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# Weekly Ethereum Research Report (2026-03-02 ~ 2026-03-06)

## Top 3 Summary

1. **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.

2. **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.

3. **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.

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## 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 |

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## 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) | - | - |

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## 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 |

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## 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_safe` bug fix), PR #30 opened
- Lodestar staking deployment leading — exchanges benefit from FCR automatically reflected in EL `safe` tag

**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

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## 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).

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## 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 |

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