Ethereum research group Ethlabs has shared its ideas for Hegotá, the major Ethereum upgrade planned after Glamsterdam. While none of these suggestions are final, the group wants developers to focus on four key areas: stronger censorship resistance, faster block times, native account abstraction, and more Layer 1 scaling.
Right now, FOCIL is the only feature officially scheduled for Hegotá. This proposal is designed to make it harder for block builders to leave out valid transactions. Ethlabs strongly supports it and considers it one of the most important upgrades for keeping Ethereum open and resistant to censorship.
Another top priority for Ethlabs is reducing Ethereum’s current 12-second slot time. The group supports the Quick Slots proposal, which could eventually bring slot times closer to 10 seconds. Faster slots would help transactions move through the network more quickly and could also reduce the time needed for transaction finality.
Ethlabs is also backing Frame Transactions, a proposal that could bring native account abstraction to Ethereum. If adopted, users could benefit from features like passkey logins, sponsored transaction fees, token-based gas payments, transaction batching, and easier upgrades to future security systems. While the proposal has moved closer to possible inclusion, developers are still comparing different approaches before making a final decision.
For network scaling, Ethlabs supports two proposals called EIP-8131 and EIP-8279. These changes would improve how Ethereum handles transaction data and network bandwidth, making it easier to safely increase gas limits and process more activity on the main network in the future.
The group chose not to rank EIP-8363, a proposal that would change Ethereum’s issuance model by burning a larger share of validator rewards as staking increases. Ethlabs believes a change of that size should involve wider community discussion instead of being treated like a normal technical upgrade.
The Hegotá upgrade is currently expected to arrive in 2027, and many of its features are still being debated. Ethereum client teams must submit their rankings for proposed features by September 10, helping developers decide which ideas should move forward into implementation and testing.
For now, Ethlabs’ recommendations represent the opinion of one Ethereum-focused research organization, not Ethereum’s final roadmap. With only FOCIL officially scheduled, the rest of the proposed features are still competing for support as developers continue shaping what Hegotá will ultimately include.
