Glamsterdam upgrade progress and Hegotá timeline: ePBS complexity, FOCIL chosen, EIP proposals open

Ethereum’s Protocol Support “Checkpoint #9” (Apr 2026) reports steady momentum but slower-than-expected execution for the next major upgrades. Glamsterdam: Implementation is underway, with several gas repricings prioritized as a bundle. EIP-7954 (increase maximum contract size) is highlighted by ecosystem developers and is likely to be prioritized. The biggest bottleneck is enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS): the protocol must handle coordination or disagreement between two parties that produce blocks inside consensus, creating system-wide complexity (e.g., “partial blocks” and two-party coordination). Block-level Access Lists (BALs) are making predictable progress on BAL devnets. Developers aim to launch the first generalized Glamsterdam devnet next week if the current ePBS devnet stabilizes, then iterate through multiple devnets before client releases, security reviews, and finally setting the mainnet fork date. Hegotá: The headliner is selected as FOCIL (EIP-7805) for the consensus layer. Account Abstraction (AA) efforts remain contentious at the execution-layer level, so EIP-8141 (“Frame transactions”) is downgraded to CFI status (non-headliner), while a broader, community-supported AA direction is kept as a placeholder commitment. From Apr 9, anyone can propose non-headlining features by moving an EIP into the “Proposed for Inclusion” section on the fork’s meta EIP; the closing date will be announced at least two weeks ahead. The upgrade date depends on Glamsterdam progress. Gas limit: Devnets continue testing higher gas limits with a baseline target of 60M, aiming to push further once repricing changes in Glamsterdam enable safer higher limits. Key takeaway for traders: Glamsterdam is progressing but ePBS remains a major technical risk to near-term timelines, while concrete execution-layer and gas-limit work is still moving forward.