# Mar 2026 — Week 4

*2026-03-23 ~ 2026-03-27*

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# Weekly Ethereum Research Report (2026-03-23 ~ 2026-03-27)
## TL;DR

- **Bottom line**: ACDE #233 ended 37 days with no EIP upgrade changes, and as EIP-8141 Frame Transaction entered Hegota Considered, the competition over PQ transaction standards moved up to the official fork-candidate stage.
- **Numbers**: Six protocol calls were held this week, Hegota Considered increased from 0 to 1 item (8141), and Lido confirmed 700+ Operators, $40.5M in revenue, and $100M+ migrated to EarnETH.
- **Action**: Operators and researchers should continue tracking ACDT #076 (3/30), PQTS #005 (4/1), and ACDC #177 (4/2), and watch the follow-up decisions on EIP-8141 vs PQ+SchemedTx, the FOCIL 12-second cutoff, and four parallel devnet tests.


## Top 3 Takeaways

1. **The longest-ever 37-day stretch with no EIP upgrade changes ended at ACDE #233 (3/26) — EIP-8141 Frame Transaction newly entered Hegota Considered, putting a PQ (Post-Quantum) transaction standard on the official fork-candidate list for the first time.**

    The record of 37 days since 2/20 without a single EIP stage change was broken at ACDE #233. EIP-8141 Frame Transaction entered Hegota Considered after an EthereumJS end-to-end implementation demo (@holgerd77), two Breakout calls (3/5, 3/25), and three consecutive days of spec updates (atomic batching, mempool policy, default code). However, the 20 Glamsterdam Considered items remained without promotion, reaffirming Core Devs' tendency to prioritize confirmation of technical maturity through Breakout calls. @Giulio2002's alternative PQ+SchemedTx proposal also formalized the competitive landscape for Hegota PQ.

2. **An LDO $50M Buyback+Staking proposal appeared and the Lido Foundations 2025 Annual Report was published — with 700+ Operators, $40.5M in revenue, and the CMv2 2026 H2 timeline confirmed, the path into Curated Operator status is becoming concrete.**

    Karsune posted a proposal for up to a $50M buyback when LDO trades below $2, plus allocation of 20-40% of protocol revenue to LDO stakers. It is a concrete alternative in the LDO utility debate that has continued for 12 days. The Annual Report confirmed 700+ unique Operators including 412 CSM participants, 77,002 ETH in Lido Earn TVL, and a 2026 H2 launch for Curated Module v2 + Staking Router v3. The LNOSG→CMC transition (6-of-9 multisig) is awaiting an April Snapshot vote, making CMC launch → CMv2 adoption a sequential inflection point for operator governance in the second half.

3. **Six protocol calls were held this week, accelerating technical progress across both the Glamsterdam and Hegota tracks, including a new FOCIL 12-second attester cutoff proposal, the start of EIP-8070 Sparse Blobpool SFI discussion, and four parallel devnet tests (ACDT #76).**

    At FOCIL #031, Jihoon proposed a new attester cutoff deadline at 12 seconds, completed the Hegota library rebase, and defined four CL tests. At ACDE #233, SFI promotion for EIP-8070 Sparse Blobpool (Geth prototype completed) was discussed for the first time. ACDT #76 (3/30) previewed parallel testing across four devnets — blob-devnet-0, bal-devnet-3/4, and epbs-devnet-1 — meaning the client teams' resource fragmentation burden has reached an unprecedented level.

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## 1. Roadmap / Upgrade Change Highlights

### Glamsterdam (Scheduled maintained, Considered unchanged)

| Item | Status | This week's change |
|------|------|-------------|
| EIP-7732 (ePBS) | **Scheduled** | Discussed cached PTCs design at ACDT #075 (consensus-specs#4992). Checked epbs-devnet-1 status |
| EIP-7928 (BAL) | **Scheduled** | **Proposed shift to stateful benchmarks** (nerolation). Preparing bal-devnet-3→4 |
| EIP-8070 (Sparse Blobpool) | Considered | **Geth prototype completed + opinion raised to pursue SFI** (ACDE #233, healthykim) |
| EIP-8037 (State Creation Gas) | Considered | No change |
| 20 Considered items | **37 days unchanged** | No promotion decision at ACDE #233. Possible delay until after ACDC #177 (4/2) |
| devnet testing | 4 in parallel | **ACDT #76 (3/30): blob-devnet-0, bal-devnet-3/4, epbs-devnet-1** |

### Hegota (EIP-8141 newly entered Considered)

| Item | Status | This week's change |
|------|------|-------------|
| EIP-7805 (FOCIL) | **Scheduled** | **New 12-second attester cutoff proposal (Jihoon). Hegota library rebase + four CL tests defined** |
| EIP-8141 (Frame Transaction) | **Considered (new)** | **🔴 First change in 37 days. Entered Hegota Considered at ACDE #233. First official fork candidate for PQ TX** |
| EIP-8202 (Schemed Transaction) | PQ competing alternative | **Officially proposed by @Giulio2002 as an alternative to Frame TX** (Breakout #2, ACDE #233) |
| EIP-8184 (LUCID) | Declined | Added Competition for ToB section |
| bal-devnet-2 EIPs SFI | Request received | **Batch SFI transition requested in EIPs PR #11399** (ACDE #233) |

### Fusaka / PQ (accelerating PQ transition)

| Item | Status | This week's change |
|------|------|-------------|
| Fusaka Included | 13 items maintained | No change |
| PQI Devnet | Devnet-3→4 transition | **PQI #033: Observed Devnet-3 metrics, Devnet-4 spec work, 9 CL client matrix** |
| PQ schedule | EthCC pause | **PQI resumes 4/8, PQTS #5 4/1, Google 2029 deadline officially mentioned** |
| Withdrawal Preregistration | Draft stage | **New EIP draft appeared — preregistration of validator withdrawal keys** |

### The Verge / The Scourge (long-term research)

| Item | Status | This week's change |
|------|------|-------------|
| Block Update Digests (BUDs) | New research | **Sei Labs — membership proof proposal without a global state tree** |
| Leaderless BFT | New research | **EF researchers (Barnabe, Luca, Dankrad) — exploring a leaderless consensus protocol** |
| Stateless Call #50 | Delayed | **Rescheduled to 4/6** |

---

## 2. EIP Status Changes (Forkcast Monday 3/23 vs Friday 3/27)

### Summary of upgrade inclusion status changes

| Change type | Count |
|-----------|------|
| Official stage change | **1** — EIP-8141 Frame Transaction → Hegota Considered (ACDE #233) |
| Substantive progress (not reflected in Forkcast) | **3** — EIP-8070 SFI discussion started, bal-devnet-2 EIPs SFI request (PR #11399), Withdrawal Preregistration EIP draft |

**End of 37 days with no changes** (ended at ACDE #233 after setting the longest-ever record since 2/20). The change is limited to one Hegota item, while the 20 Glamsterdam Considered items remain unchanged.

### Status by upgrade (as of 3/27)

| Upgrade | Scheduled | Considered | Included | Declined | Withdrawn |
|-----------|-----------|------------|----------|----------|-----------|
| **Glamsterdam** | 2 (7732, 7928) | 20 | - | 34 | 4 |
| **Hegota** | 1 (7805) | **1 (8141)** ← new | - | 2 (7807, 8184) | 1 (8105) |
| **Fusaka** | - | - | 13 | - | - |
| **Pectra** | - | - | 12 (completed) | - | - |

120 items tracked in total. Versus Monday, Friday shows **+1 item** (EIP-8141 entering Hegota).

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## 3. Major Validator / Infrastructure Issues

### Direct impact on validator operations

| Priority | Item | Details | Timing |
|---------|------|------|------|
| **Urgent** | LDO $50M Buyback+Staking | Allocate 20-40% of protocol revenue to LDO stakers, buyback below $2. Attempt to reshape token economics | 3/26 proposal |
| **Urgent** | LNOSG→CMC transition | 6-of-9 multisig. Awaiting April Snapshot vote. Practical gatekeeper for operator onboarding/offboarding | April vote |
| **Urgent** | EIP-8141 Hegota Considered | First official fork candidate for PQ TX. Need to begin spec tracking (immediate implementation not required) | 3/26 decision |
| **Mid-term** | Lido Earn EarnETH migration | **$100M+ in capital moved to EarnETH** — confirms practicality of stVault infrastructure | 3/27 |
| **Mid-term** | Lido 2025 Annual Report | 700+ Operators, $40.5M revenue, CMv2+SR v3 2026 H2. Curated entry timeline confirmed | 3/25 |
| **Mid-term** | SSV DVT vulnerability | ticket #465 D+8. Waiting for responses from both sides. Need to reassess DVT architecture security | Ongoing |
| **Mid-term** | Resolv hack follow-up | Confirms counterparty risk in DeFi integrations. Check Lido Earn safe integration | 3/23 D+1 |
| **Long-term** | Leaderless BFT research | EF core researchers involved. Long-term direction away from proposer-centered consensus | Research stage |
| **Long-term** | BUDs membership proofs | Alternative approach to Verkle/Binary Trie. Expands the scope of Stateless Ethereum | Research stage |

### Infrastructure monitoring status

| Item | Status | This week's change |
|------|------|-------------|
| ePBS epbs-devnet-1 | Status check | Discussed cached PTCs design at ACDT #075 |
| BAL devnet-3→4 | **Benchmark transition** | I/O → state-based (stateful) benchmark transition |
| blob-devnet-0 | Status check | ACDT #076 (3/30) agenda |
| Four parallel devnets | **Unprecedented scale** | blob-devnet-0, bal-devnet-3/4, epbs-devnet-1 proceeding concurrently |
| FCR 'safe' tag | RPC impact announced | RPC #023 explained change in meaning of the eth_getBlockByNumber 'safe' tag |
| FOCIL implementation | **Interop preparation** | Basis team can interop on DevNet within 4 weeks. Lodestar needs only minor changes |
| PQ RLPx | Exploration | Falcon signature aggregation + handshake design |
| SSZ Engine API | Experiment ongoing | @Giulio2002 presented binary serialization experiment (ACDE #233) |
| Stateless Call #50 | Delayed | **Rescheduled to 4/6** |

---

## 4. Key Protocol Call Decisions

**Six calls held this week** (official notes not fully published — based on GitHub issues, agendas, and comments):

| Date | Call | Number | Key outcome |
|------|-----|------|----------|
| 3/23 (Mon) | ACDT | #075 | **Proposed BAL stateful benchmark transition. Reviewed ePBS cached PTCs design. Published EIP-8141 mempool policy document** |
| 3/23 (Mon) | RPC | #023 | **Announced impact of FCR 'safe' block tag. Recommended merging three execution-apis PRs** |
| 3/24 (Tue) | FOCIL | #031 | **New 12-second attester cutoff proposal. Hegota rebase + four CL tests defined** |
| 3/25 (Wed) | EIP-8141 Breakout | #002 | **Pre-discussion of Frame TX vs PQ+SchemedTx. Previewed EthereumJS implementation presentation** |
| 3/25 (Wed) | PQI | #033 | **Observed Devnet-3 metrics. 9 CL client matrix. Pause during EthCC (resume 4/8)** |
| **3/26 (Thu)** | **ACDE** | **#233** | **🔴 EIP-8141 → entered Hegota Considered. EIP-8070 SFI discussion started. bal-devnet-2 SFI request. SSZ binary serialization experiment** |

### Major technical decision details

**1. ACDE #233 — ended 37 days unchanged + confirmed PQ competitive landscape:**
- EIP-8141 Frame Transaction was the only stage change (Hegota Considered)
- @holgerd77 (EthereumJS) end-to-end implementation demo + live documentation (eip-8141-docs.feelyourprotocol.org) published
- @Giulio2002's PQ+SchemedTx alternative formalized a two-way Hegota PQ race
- EIP-8070 Sparse Blobpool Geth prototype completed + opinion to pursue SFI
- No promotion for 20 Glamsterdam Considered items — priority remains maturity confirmation via Breakouts

**2. FOCIL #031 — accelerating Hegota CL preparation:**
- New 12-second attester cutoff deadline proposal (removes existing 8 seconds, spec work after EthCC)
- Completed Amsterdam rebase for EL and Engine API specs; CL spec work in parallel based on Heze
- Basis team assessed interop possible within 4 weeks. Besu Engine API implementation in progress

**3. RPC #023 — official analysis of FCR's RPC impact:**
- FCR changes the meaning of the 'safe' block tag from ~6.4 minutes to 12 seconds (1 slot)
- Recommended merging three execution-apis PRs (#768, #763, #747)
- Discussed standardization of eth_getTransactionBySenderAndNonce (#771)

**4. PQI #033 — PQ transition infrastructure progress:**
- Devnet-3 → Devnet-4 transition. Operating a readiness matrix for 9 CL clients
- Calls paused during EthCC (early April). Resume 4/8, confirmed PQI #031 notes were lost

---

## 5. This Week's Recommended Topic Status

| Date | Recommendation 1 | Recommendation 2 | Top score |
|------|--------|--------|----------|
| 3/23 | Resolv hack + Lido Earn DeFi counterparty risk (9.00) | LDO utility debate D+9 governance-token crisis (8.58) | 9.00 |
| 3/24 | LNOSG→CMC Curated Operator governance transformation (9.35) | PQ transaction format fork point: Frame Tx vs Schemed Tx (9.00) | 9.35 |
| 3/25 | ACDE #233 D-1 scenario for ending 35 days unchanged (9.45) | Lido 2025 Annual Report institutional staking revenue structure (9.25) | 9.45 |
| 3/26 | 7 days will decide Ethereum's roadmap: the ACDE→ACDT→ACDC call chain (9.56) | LDO $50M Buyback+Staking DAO token redesign (9.31) | **9.56** |
| 3/27 | The full picture of the PQ transition opened by EIP-8141 (9.63) | Lido Earn EarnETH stVault $100M+ adoption (9.38) | **9.63** |

### Priority writing targets selected

| Rank | Topic | Rationale |
|------|------|------|
| **1** | **Ethereum's post-quantum transition will not end with a single EIP — the composite transition roadmap drawn by Frame TX, withdrawal credential preregistration, and the PQI call series** | Highest weighted score (9.63) + EIP-8141 entered Hegota Considered (ended 37 days unchanged) + simultaneous appearance of Withdrawal Preregistration + urgency from Google's 2029 quantum roadmap + complete gap in Korean analysis |
| **2** | **The ACDE→ACDT→ACDC 7-day call chain decides Ethereum's roadmap — what ACDE #233 results and four parallel devnet tests mean** | Second-highest score (9.56) + asymmetric result at ACDE #233, with Glamsterdam unchanged and Hegota progressing + unprecedented 4-devnet parallelism at ACDT #76 + continuous decision window through ACDC #177 (4/2) |
| **3** | **LDO $50M Buyback+Staking — redesigning value accrual for a DAO governance token** | 9.31 points + concrete alternative after 12 days of LDO utility debate + financial impact analysis based on Annual Report $40.5M revenue + token valuation framework for institutional investors |

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## 6. Key Schedule for Next Week

| Date | Event | Key agenda |
|------|--------|----------|
| **3/30 (Mon)** | **ACDT #076** | **Four parallel devnets (blob-devnet-0, bal-devnet-3/4, epbs-devnet-1). debug RPC + BAL/ePBS breakout** |
| 4/1 (Tue) | PQTS #005 (expected) | **Pre-EthCC PQ transaction signature discussion. 13:00 UTC** |
| **4/2 (Thu)** | **ACDC #177** | **🔴 Biggest watch point. Glamsterdam + Hegota CL decisions. FOCIL attester cutoff 12-second discussion. EIP-8141 Hegota follow-up** |
| ~4/6 | Stateless Call #050 | Reschedule confirmed. BUDs research discussion possible |
| 4/8 (Wed) | PQI #034 (expected) | Resumes after EthCC. Devnet-4 progress |
| ~4/9 (Thu) | ACDE #234 (expected) | EIP-8070 SFI decision, bal-devnet-2 EIPs handling, EIP-8141 vs PQ+SchemedTx follow-up |
| 4/14 (Mon) | FCR #006 | New time slot (12:00 UTC). Follow-up to redefining the 'safe' tag |
| ~mid-April | CMC Snapshot vote | LNOSG→CMC transition governance vote |

**Biggest watch point next week:** ACDT #076 (3/30) and ACDC #177 (4/2) will be held three days apart, producing consecutive updates on four devnet tests and Glamsterdam+Hegota CL decisions. Because ACDE #233 did not promote any of the 20 Glamsterdam Considered items, ACDC #177 becomes the first opportunity to discuss promotion from the CL perspective. After EIP-8141 entered Hegota Considered, competition between EIP-8141 and PQ+SchemedTx will begin in earnest, and the direction of spec work for the FOCIL 12-second attester cutoff proposal should become clear. On the PQ track, there is an EthCC pause between PQTS #5 (4/1) and PQI #34 (4/8), making 4/1 the last opportunity for PQ discussion before EthCC.

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## Weekly Key Metrics

| Metric | Last week (3/20) | This week (3/27) | Change |
|------|-------------|-------------|------|
| Glamsterdam Scheduled | 2 items | 2 items | - |
| Glamsterdam Considered | 20 items | 20 items | - (37 days unchanged) |
| Hegota Scheduled | 1 item | 1 item | - |
| Hegota Considered | 0 items | **1 item (8141)** | **+1 item (first change in 37 days)** |
| PQ fork candidates | 0 items | **1 item** | **EIP-8141 first official PQ TX fork candidate** |
| Fusaka Included | 13 items | 13 items | - |
| Weekly protocol calls | 7 | **6** | ACDT#75, RPC#23, FOCIL#31, EIP-8141#2, PQI#33, ACDE#233 |
| Forkcast status changes | 0 (30 days) | **1 (after 37 days)** | EIP-8141 Hegota Considered |
| Lido Operator changes | 2 | **3** | LDO Buyback proposal, Annual Report, LNOSG→CMC |
| Lido Earn | $5M First-Loss | **EarnETH $100M+ migration** | Large-scale confirmation of stVault practicality |
| PQ track | X-Wing confirmed | **EIP-8141 Hegota + Withdrawal Preregistration** | PQ bundle transition becoming visible |
| Devnets in parallel | 3 | **4** | blob-devnet-0 added (unprecedented scale) |
| New research | Binary Trie | **BUDs (state-tree alternative) + Leaderless BFT** | Expanding long-term research scope |
| LDO governance | Utility debate ongoing | **$50M Buyback+Staking proposal** | Concrete token-economics alternative appears |
| AA headliner competition | Three-way race maintained | Three-way race maintained | No decision at ACDE #233 |

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