Weekly Ethereum Research Report (2026-02-21 ~ 2026-02-27)
TL;DR
- Bottom line: The release of Strawmap, EF Treasury staking of 70,000 ETH, and ACDE #231's 3:1 support for EIP-8141 simultaneously clarified the coordinates for Hegota and the long-term roadmap.
- Numbers: Strawmap presented 7 forks through 2029, a 6-month cadence, and 5 North Stars, while EF disclosed its first 2,016 ETH deposit and a MaxEB 2,048 ETH operating structure.
- Action: Operators and researchers should prioritize tracking the post-FOCIL SFI devnet-0 timeline, EIP-8141 Forkcast registration, and follow-up discussions after PQTS #003 and ETM #001 on 3/4.
Top 3 Takeaways
Justin Drake and the EF Protocol team released strawmap.org, presenting 7 forks × 6-month cadence × 5 North Stars through 2029.
자세히 읽기
This is the first official document to visualize the Ethereum roadmap from “what” to “when, and in what order.” Vitalik immediately described it as “a very important document.” The 5 end-state goals — Fast L1 (1s slots), Gigagas L1 (100M gas/sec), Teragas L2 (1GB/sec DA), Post-Quantum L1, and Private L1 — form a new coordinate system for validator operations and protocol direction.
EF began staking 70,000 ETH from its Treasury and disclosed a reference architecture for institutional-grade validator operations.
자세히 읽기
The concrete technical stack — Dirk+Vouch (distributed signing), MaxEB 2,048 ETH (~35 signing keys), Type 2 withdrawals, minority clients, multi-jurisdiction distribution, and local block building (no MEV-Boost) — declares EF's position of prioritizing neutrality and censorship resistance over maximizing MEV revenue.
At ACDE #231 (2/26), EIP-8141 Frame Transaction effectively became confirmed as the Hegota EL headliner after receiving 3:1 client support.
자세히 읽기
Geth, Erigon, and Nimbus EL supported it, while only Besu maintained LUCID. Hegota = CL FOCIL (EIP-7805) + EL Frame Transaction (EIP-8141) has now taken shape as a “censorship resistance + native AA + PQ off-ramp” fork.
1. Roadmap / Upgrade Change Highlights
Strawmap — Ethereum Long-Term Timeline (New)
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Number of forks | 7 (Hegota→Glamsterdam→I→J→K→L→M*) |
| Cadence | 6-month intervals |
| Headliner rule | Limited to 1 CL + 1 EL headliner per fork |
| 5 North Stars | Fast L1 (slot time 1s), Gigagas L1 (100M gas/sec), Teragas L2 (1GB/sec DA), Post-Quantum L1, Private L1 |
| Vitalik comment | Prefers gradual Fast slots reduction (12s→8s→4s→2s→1s), classification of 4 PQ vulnerability areas (BLS/KZG/ECDSA/AA) |
| Character | “accelerationist coordination tool” — a balance of speed + coordination |
Glamsterdam (Stable)
| Item | Status | This Week's Change |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-7732 (ePBS) | Scheduled | No change. epbs-devnet-0 review scheduled at ACDT #72 (3/2) |
| EIP-7928 (BALs) | Scheduled | A partial statefulness proposal emerged at BAL #13. 4 PRs in progress |
| EIP-8024 (SWAPN/DUPN/EXCHANGE) | Considered | 2 spec commits added |
| EIP-8037 (State Creation Gas) | Considered | Elasticity research published (theoretical 5x vs actual 1.3x-1.4x throughput). Deferred to devnet-4 |
| Overall gas repricing | 20 Considered | No Forkcast changes for 8 consecutive days. No additional changes confirmed at ACDE #231 |
Hegota (Key Changes)
| Item | Status | This Week's Change |
|---|---|---|
| EIP-7805 (FOCIL) | Scheduled | FOCIL Breakout #29 formalized completion of SFI (Spec Freeze for Implementation). Client implementation entered full swing |
| EIP-8141 (Frame Transaction) | (Not registered on Forkcast, 3:1 support) | Three clients — Geth, Erigon, and Nimbus EL — supported it at ACDE #231. Only Besu maintained LUCID. Awaiting Forkcast registration |
| EIP-8105 (UEEM) | Withdrawn | Withdrawn from Hegota on 2/23. Shifted to an independent track via Encrypt The Mempool Breakout #1 (3/4) |
| LUCID | Undecided | Erigon explicitly proposed “deferring to the I* fork (after Hegota)” |
Fusaka (Stable)
- blob-devnet-0 continues running
- Comprehensive review scheduled at ACDT #72 (3/2)
EF Organizational Changes
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| DeFi Coordination Team launched | Charlie St. Louis (formerly DELV) + ivangbi (Gearbox) joined. 6 commitments (Builder Relations, Security, Decentralization, Privacy, Standards, Research) |
| Protocol Priorities series | Previewed deep-dive content across 3 tracks: “Scale + Improve UX + Harden the L1.” Episode 1 “Coming Soon” |
| Treasury 70K ETH staking | First deposit of 2,016 ETH completed. Expected annual ~$3.6M at CESR 2.808% |
2. EIP Status Changes (Forkcast 2/20 Friday vs 2/27 Friday)
Summary of Upgrade Inclusion Status Changes
| Change | EIP | Upgrade | Previous Status | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Withdrawn | EIP-8105 (UEEM) | Hegota | Proposed | Withdrawn | Voluntarily withdrawn on 2/23. ETM Breakout independent track |
| Effectively confirmed | EIP-8141 (Frame Transaction) | Hegota | (Unregistered) | 3:1 client support | ACDE #231. Awaiting Forkcast registration |
Status by Upgrade (as of 2/27)
| Upgrade | Scheduled | Considered | Included | Declined | Withdrawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glamsterdam | 2 (7732, 7928) | 20 | - | 33 | 4 |
| Hegota | 1 (7805) | 0 | - | - | 1 (8105) (+1) |
| Fusaka | - | - | 13 | - | - |
Key weekly change: The only official Forkcast change was 1 Withdrawn item, EIP-8105, but at ACDE #231, EIP-8141 Frame Transaction received 3:1 client support and effectively determined the Hegota EL headliner. Official Forkcast registration is expected as a follow-up. The 20 Glamsterdam Considered items have been unchanged for 8 days.
3. Major Validator / Infrastructure Issues
Direct Impact on Validator Operations
| Priority | Item | Details | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urgent | EF Treasury 70K ETH staking | Dirk+Vouch, MaxEB 2,048 ETH (~35 signing keys), Type 2 withdrawals, local building. Institutional-grade validator reference architecture | Ongoing |
| Urgent | FOCIL SFI completed | Spec frozen at Breakout #29. CL client implementation begins in earnest. devnet-0 timeline under discussion | Hegota |
| Urgent | EIP-8141 Frame Transaction | Hegota EL headliner with 3:1 support. New transaction type (0x06), native AA, PQ off-ramp | Hegota |
| Medium-term | Lido DVT Cluster entry | Nethermind+Sigma Prime+ChainSafe+Develp applied for stVaults as an Obol Charon-based DVT cluster. An unprecedented structure in which client teams directly become operators | Q1 2026 |
| Medium-term | Lido V3 x Linea Yield Boost | First L2 expansion of stVaults. wstETH yield optimization on Linea | Coming Soon |
| Long-term | PQ validator key transition | BLS→Winternitz+STARK (~200K gas verification). ML-DSA's 50x signature size makes aggregation the key blocker. STARK-based aggregation is the only realistic solution, but remains “unsolved” | 2029 target |
Infrastructure Monitoring Status
| Item | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FOCIL SFI | Completed | Formalized at Breakout #29 (2/24). Engine API change scope confirmed |
| BAL #13 | 4 PRs in progress | Partial statefulness proposal emerged — exploratory stage |
| Blob Streaming | Research proposal | AOT (ahead-of-time) + JIT (real-time) 2-lane DA expansion architecture |
| RPC Standards | v1.0.0 | Cancun baseline, 71 methods, endpoint-level versioning system |
| EIP-8024 | Spec update | 2 commits for SWAPN/DUPN/EXCHANGE |
| PQ Aggregation | Blocker identified | ML-DSA 3,309B (52x ECDSA), BLS aggregation 48B→1.7MB/slot (35,000x), FOCIL capacity ~98% reduction |
| EVM statistics | Data published | 88.9% of transactions <32 stack depth, 90.3% <1KiB memory |
4. Key Protocol Call Decisions
This week had 6 protocol calls (cumulative 123):
| Date | Call | Key Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2/23 (Mon) | ACDT #071 | EIP-8037 deferred to devnet-4, EIP-3155 update approved |
| 2/23 (Mon) | RPC #021 | Execution APIs v1.0.0 versioning (Cancun baseline, 71 methods) |
| 2/24 (Tue) | FOCIL #029 | SFI completion formalized. devnet-0 timeline discussion started |
| 2/25 (Wed) | BAL #013 | Partial statefulness proposal emerged. 4 PRs (#11227, #11323, #2109, #726) in progress |
| 2/25 (Wed) | PQI #028 | Notes not published |
| 2/26 (Thu) | ACDE #231 | EIP-8141 Frame Transaction → Hegota EL headliner with 3:1 client support! Geth, Erigon, and Nimbus EL supported it; Besu maintained LUCID |
Key Technical Decision Details
Hegota headliner structure effectively confirmed:
| Layer | Mechanism | Status | Decision Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| CL | FOCIL (EIP-7805) | Scheduled (SFI completed) | ACDC #175 (2/19) |
| EL | Frame Transaction (EIP-8141) | 3:1 support (awaiting Forkcast registration) | ACDE #231 (2/26) |
Core of EIP-8141 Frame Transaction:
- New transaction type (type 0x06), 3 frame modes (VERIFY/PAYER/SENDER), 4 new opcodes
- Native AA: protocol enshrinement of ERC-4337
- PQ off-ramp: a per-account gradual transition path from ECDSA to quantum-resistant signatures
- Vitalik: Combining FOCIL + EIP-8141 can enable “transaction inclusion guaranteed within 1~2 slots”
BAL Breakout #13 — partial statefulness proposal:
- A method for nodes to use BAL to store only domain-separated subtrees instead of the full state
- Still exploratory, but suggests BAL could evolve beyond Glamsterdam gas optimization into a core layer of state management architecture
5. Key Schedule for Next Week
| Date | Event | Key Agenda |
|---|---|---|
| 3/2 (Mon) | ACDT #072 | Comprehensive review of blob-devnet-0, bal-devnet-2/3, epbs-devnet-0, gas limit, eth/70 |
| 3/4 (Tue) | PQTS #003 | PQ devnet, EIP-7932 crypto-agility, ML-DSA aggregation |
| 3/4 (Tue) | ETM #001 | First Encrypt The Mempool call! EIP-8105 status, Beacon Chain RPC key reveal, AEAD/DEM |
| 3/5 (Wed) | ACDC #176 | Clarifying the FOCIL devnet-0 timeline, Hegota CL implementation status |
| ~3/11 (Tue) | BAL #014 | Review of progress after bal-devnet-3 |
Top watchpoint for next week: On 3/4, PQTS #3 and ETM #1 will be held on the same day, concretizing the two axes of “Harden the L1”: Post-Quantum and Encrypted Mempool. At ACDC #176 on 3/5, the launch timeline for devnet-0 after FOCIL SFI is expected to be decided.
Weekly Key Metrics
| Metric | Last Week (2/20) | This Week (2/27) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glamsterdam Scheduled | 2 items | 2 items | - |
| Glamsterdam Considered | 20 items | 20 items | - (8 days unchanged) |
| Hegota Scheduled | 1 item | 1 item | - (FOCIL SFI completed) |
| Hegota Proposed | 1 item | 0 items | -1 (EIP-8105 Withdrawn) |
| Hegota Withdrawn | 0 items | 1 item | +1 (EIP-8105) |
| Hegota EL headliner | Undecided | EIP-8141 3:1 support | Effectively confirmed |
| Fusaka Included | 13 items | 13 items | - |
| Weekly protocol calls | 7 | 6 | -1 |
| Cumulative protocol calls | - | 123 | +6 (ACDT#71, RPC#21, FOCIL#29, BAL#13, PQI#28, ACDE#231) |
| Forkcast status changes | 3 | 1 | EIP-8105 Withdrawn |
Written by: @r2jamong
Data sources: ethereum/pm, ethereum/forkcast, Ethereum Magicians, ethresear.ch, strawmap.org