Ethlabs, the eight-week-old nonprofit research and development lab, has published its priorities for Hegotá, Ethereum's next planned upgrade after Glamsterdam. In a post on X, the lab recommended stronger censorship resistance, faster blocks, native account abstraction, and continued Layer 1 scaling. The recommendations arrive as Hegotá enters its second scoping phase, with FOCIL already selected as the upgrade's headliner.

Faster Blocks Lead Ethlabs' Priorities

Ethlabs argues that Quick Slots, or EIP-8198, should receive S-tier status in Hegotá. The proposal would reduce Ethereum's current 12-second slot time, with Ethlabs targeting 10 seconds initially. Slots have been set at 12 seconds since Ethereum's 2022 transition to proof of stake, so even a two-second cut would mark the first change to that cadence in the proof-of-stake era. According to the group, faster slots could improve transaction confirmations, onchain market pricing, finality, and censorship resistance, and Hegotá could also begin a longer move toward shorter slots.

The lab additionally backs FOCIL, or EIP-7805, which has already received SFI status. FOCIL is Hegotá's headliner and focuses on strengthening transaction censorship resistance.

Native Accounts Draw Broad Support

Ethlabs placed Frame Transactions, EIP-8141, in its A-tier ranking for native account abstraction. If adopted, the proposal could support passkeys, sponsored transactions, ERC-20 gas payments, transaction batching, and privacy tools. Such features largely reach users today through application-layer standards like ERC-4337, whereas EIP-8141 would build them directly into the protocol itself. Ethlabs nevertheless cited adoption risks, noting that account abstraction affects clients, wallets, Layer 2 networks, RPCs, and developer tools.

Keyed Nonces and SETDELEGATE also received A-tier placements, as did the post-quantum signature proposal EIP-8355. Ethlabs said Hegotá should establish a credible path toward post-quantum account security, a concern driven by the risk that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could break the elliptic-curve signatures securing existing Ethereum accounts.

Scaling Proposals Target Ethereum Capacity

For continued Layer 1 scaling, Ethlabs gave EIP-8131 and EIP-8279 S-tier status. The two proposals address data pricing and aim to improve accounting for transaction and Block Access List bytes.

Block Access List Sidecars, EIP-8146, was placed in A-tier. The proposal would propagate Block Access Lists separately, helping execution clients begin state prefetching earlier. Block Access Lists have been studied for years in Ethereum research as a route to cheaper, more predictable state access.

The Hegotá scoping process moved into its second phase after the August 6 deadline. Ethlabs noted that proposed EIPs remain subject to client review and testing, with proposals currently moving through PFI, CFI, and SFI stages before possible inclusion. The lab added that most proposed EIPs do not ultimately enter a final upgrade. Input from outside contributors such as Ethlabs feeds that process, but final scope rests with Ethereum's client teams, making their review and testing results the practical checkpoints for which of these recommendations advance.