Ethereum Foundation’s 2026 Game Plan

Hey crypto pals! So, the Ethereum Foundation has spilled the beans about its grand plans for 2026 in their latest update, dropped on February 18. They’re all about reorganizing the core research and development efforts as we gear up for shiny new upgrades this year.

A Look Back at 2025

Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane; 2025 was quite the busy beehive for the Ethereum mainnet, rocking not one but two massive upgrades! Think of those upgrades as double scoops of your favorite ice cream—sweet, refreshing, and absolutely necessary. We had Pectra rolling out in May and Fusaka swaggering in by December to bring some real pizzazz with PeerDAS. Plus, let’s not forget about the community’s collective cheer as they doubled the mainnet gas limit from 30 million to a whopping 60 million—kicking it up a notch for the first time since 2021!

Time to Shuffle and Tackle!

Now that the dust has settled from those milestones, it’s time for some reorganizing shenanigans! The Foundation is splicing their protocol work into three cool categories: Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1. Every category comes with its own group of talented ringleaders managing the circus.

Scaling It Up

First up, the Scale track is in the capable hands of Ansgar Dietrichs, Marius van der Wijden, and Raúl Kripalani. They’re merging the previously separate initiatives of Scale L1 and Scale Blobs. Think of it like combining your two favorite pizza toppings into one epic slice—because they totally influence each other!

On the roadmap, the ambitions are clear—shooting for gas limits that skyrocket toward and even beyond 100 million! That’s right, we’re not just stopping; we’re going for the stars, baby! They’re also working on a zkEVM attester client that’s taking steps toward being all prim and proper for production.

Making the User Experience Sparkle

Next on the agenda, we have the Improve UX track run by the dynamic duo Barnabé Monnot and Matt Garnett. They’re honing in on two gaming strategies for better everything: native account abstraction and interoperability. Basically, they want the experience to be smoother than a freshly buttered popcorn.

Account abstraction is like giving wallets a wizard’s upgrade—less hassle and fewer fees will make Smart Contract wallets the rule rather than the exception. They’re rolling out EIP-7702 to pave the way for easy-peasy transitions away from ECDSA authentication. It’s like swapping out the clunky old flip phone for a sleek new smartphone!

Oh, and the interoperability? They’re targeting super-smooth cross-layer interactions, making transactions as easy as pie. Think of it as cutting time off the waiting game for various L2s to chat with each other.

Hunkering Down with Harden the L1

Finally, we have the *Harden the L1* track, bravely led by Fredrik Svantes, Parithosh Jayanthi, and Thomas Thiery—like the Avengers of Ethereum or something! This team is all about ensuring Ethereum remains the shiny fortress it is while the scaling process unfolds.

Security is their slogan, with Svantes championing the Trillion Dollar Security Initiative, prepping Ethereum for the era of quantum computing. They got post-execution transaction safeguards and resistance measures handled, plus they’ll be addressing those nagging censorship issues.

What’s Coming Up?

As we peek into the crystal ball for 2026, the Foundation has plans for an action-packed first half with an eye on *Glamsterdam*, where we’re expecting even higher gas limits and stronger security measures. Later in the year, *Hegotá* is in the works, aiming to revolutionize native account abstraction further while working on progress across the board.

As of now, Ethereum is dancing around at a price of $1,968. So buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride into the future of crypto!