Good evening,

Ethereum protocol developers are away in a foreign land for a much-needed huddle and face-to-face discussions on Glamsterdam, Hegota, and the broader future of Ethereum development.

While we wait to see what comes out of these in-person meetings, I want to revisit a longstanding debate in the Ethereum community: reducing ETH issuance, and discuss why it’s still unlikely to result in any protocol-level changes any time soon.

I also take a look at the DeFi United recovery effort, which, depending on how you frame it, looks a lot like a crypto-native version of a bank bailout.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

P.S. As I mentioned to readers on Tuesday, I’m hosting my second All Protocol Devs event. It’ll kick off virtually tomorrow at 11:30 am (ET). The main discussion topics for the meetup are: the DeFi United fund recovery efforts for rsETH holders and the Ethereum issuance reduction debates. Sign-ups for the event are still open!

Details on how to sign up here.

🗒️ Call Minutes

This week, Ethereum protocol developers are meeting in person at an undisclosed location to work on the Glamsterdam upgrade and other high-priority initiatives discussed on the All Core Developers (ACD) calls.

To focus on in-person meetings, developers cancelled their usual Thursday ACD call and most of their other recurring protocol-related meetings this week. However, they still gathered for a few virtual calls to discuss post-quantum and mempool encryption.

• Post Quantum Transaction Signatures (Execution Layer-Focused) #7: Matteo Vena from Riva Labs presented on NiceTry, a user-friendly post-quantum wallet. Nico Consigny from the Ethereum Foundation presented on a post-quantum stateless signature scheme known as JARDIN. Lastly, Mahdi Sedaghat from Soundless Labs presented a zero-knowledge key-rotation setup that keeps users’ public keys private in both wallets and the public mempool.

• Post Quantum Interop (Consensus Layer-Focused) #37: Developers shared updates on their implementation of current lean consensus specifications, and discussed open questions for the next iteration of the lean protocol.

• Encrypt The Mempool #3: Developers discussed technical barriers and strategic priorities related to encrypting Ethereum’s mempool. They discussed improvements to proposals such as LUCID and FRAME, as well as ways to spread the word about the importance of strengthening Ethereum’s user privacy guarantees.

🌕 That’s all for my round-up of Ethereum development updates. Continue reading for my insights on these updates. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

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🔎 Insights

1. The issuance reduction debate

On Monday, April 20, the total supply of ether (ETH) staked exceeded 30%, reaching a new all-time high.

“Pintail,” a pseudonymous Ethereum developer, flagged that staking rates will continue to trend upward until nearly 100% of supply is staked.

Read more

Good evening,

Last week, I talked about the unexpected complexities of the Glamsterdam upgrade on the consensus layer (CL) side. This week, I dive into the complexities of the upgrade on the execution layer (EL) side.

Though the ongoing issues and concerns on the CL and EL both highlight Ethereum developers’ tendency to underestimate the difficulty of upgrade implementation, the nature of these implementation challenges differs between the CL and EL.

On the EL, the challenge is less about client implementations and more about the testing suite that verifies their correctness and security.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

First, a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) #235.

Announcements

• Nixo Rokish, Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol Support Team Lead, will join Ansgar Dietrichs, EF Protocol Researcher, in chairing the ACDE meetings moving forward.

Glamsterdam Devnet Updates

• STEEL, the EF testing team, has released a new test suite, bal @v5.7.0-alpha, for execution layer (EL) client implementations of Glamsterdam.

• EthPandaOps, the EF developer operations team, is making progress in spinning up a merged devnet and testing both the consensus layer (CL) and EL Glamsterdam client implementation in tandem.

• Developers agreed to merge PR #786 in the Ethereum Engine API, which clarifies EL client behavior in the event of a deep chain reorganization.

• Mario Vega, EF testing team lead, raised concerns about the complexity of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037, State Creation Gas Cost Increase, especially the dynamic state gas costs and refund mechanism.

• Developers discussed alternatives to dynamic state gas costs, such as making these costs static and manually replaceable via blob parameter only (BPO)-type hard forks.

• EF Protocol Researcher Anders Elowsson shared his proposal for state-gas parameter only (SGPO) hard forks for consideration in Glamsterdam.

Hegota

• Prysm developer “Potuz” presented EIP 8237 (Independent CL/EL Sync) for consideration in Hegota. Building on changes in EIP 7732 (Enshrined Proposer Builder Separation), this proposal enables CL clients to perform range sync without downloading execution payloads, significantly reducing bandwidth and CPU latency. Though this is a CL-focused change, it also requires changes in EL clients.

• “Piotr,” a representative from Monad, presented EIP 8163 (Reserve EXTENSION 0xae opcode) for consideration in Hegota. This proposal reserves an opcode range for exclusive use by Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) protocols like Monad, so they can freely experiment with new EVM features without worrying about concerns of backwards compatibility with Ethereum’s EVM.

• Long-time Ethereum contributor Greg Colvin presented EIP 7979 (Call and Return Opcodes for the EVM) for consideration in Hegota. This proposal introduces new EVM instructions for smart contract function calls and returns, making code deployed on Ethereum more structured and easier to reason about.

Miscellaneous

• Developers are seeking feedback on the following three Execution API changes from EL client teams:

  • PR #774, engine_getBlobsV4

  • PR #755, Add eth_capabilities method for routing capability discovery

  • PR#773, Introduction of REST based + SSZ serialized new-payload-with-witness

• EL client teams are also encouraged to review the new proposed protocol for node discovery, Discovery v5.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #235. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

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🔎 Insights

Though Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037 was initially scoped as a minor feature in the Glamsterdam upgrade, its implementation complexity is now proving to be on par with the upgrade’s headliner features: block-level access lists (BALs) and enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS).

Read more

Good evening,

Some of the hardest problems in protocol development don’t reveal themselves until it’s time for implementation.

Tonight, I dive into PR #5094, a seemingly narrow fix to enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS) that highlights the challenges of introducing new functionality to Ethereum, whilst also preserving old functionality and minimizing protocol complexity.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

First, a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) #177.

Epbs-Devnet-1

• Due to ongoing technical issues, developers have abandoned trying to fix Epbs-Devnet-1, the test network for the Glamsterdam consensus-layer (CL) code changes.

• Instead, developers will re-test CL features on a new testnet, Glamsterdam-Devnet-0.

• They agreed not to launch another CL-focused testnet before Glamsterdam-Devnet-0.

Glamsterdam-Devnet-0

• Developers aim to launch Glamsterdam-Devnet-0 sometime after April 24, during an in-person gathering of Ethereum client teams and the Ethereum Foundation.

Glamsterdam Spec Changes

• Developers agreed to merge PR #5094 (Defer payload processing to next block), which seeks to simplify client implementations of enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS).

• Developers discussed potential follow-up changes to optimize PR #5094 impacting the RPC and Engine API layers, but agreed to decide on them at a later date.

• Developers also merged PR #5113 (Swap latest_block_hash / latest_execution_payload_bid) and PR #11452 (Update EIP-7773: Add Networking EIPs section).

• PR #5067 (Fix Gloas genesis anchor state) will be rebased on top of changes from PR #5904 and discussed on next Monday’s All Core Developer Testing call.

Glamsterdam-Devnet-1

• Ethereum Foundation Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa asked client teams about the scope of code changes for testing on Glamsterdam-Devnet-1.

• Developers agreed to revisit this topic during their in-person gathering.

• They leaned towards either keeping the scope unchanged from Glamsterdam-Devnet-0 or adding two new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) related to staking, EIP 8080 and EIP 8061.

Hegota

• Co-founder and CEO of Obol Labs, Oisín Kyne, presented EIP 7716 for consideration in the Hegota upgrade. EIP 7716 adjusts validator penalties for missed attestations such that centralized staking operations can be penalized more heavily than decentralized ones for misbehavior.

• Lido Community Staking Lead Dmitry Gusakov presented EIP 8205 for consideration in the Hegota upgrade. EIP 8205 introduces an optional way for users relying on delegated staking pools to guarantee that node operators cannot steal user funds by frontrunning validator deposits.

Gas Repricing Breakout Update

• Ethereum Foundation Researcher Maria Silva shared that during the last gas repricing breakout meeting, developers resolved the remaining open issues related to EIP 8037, State Creation Gas Cost Increase.

• The updated specifications for EIP 8037 are detailed in this Github PR.

Account Abstraction Breakout

• Next Wednesday, April 22, there is a breakout meeting for account abstraction proposals under consideration for Hegota. All Ethereum stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the discussions. Meeting details here.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDC #177. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

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🌑 I also run a research and advisory firm called Protocol Watch for businesses building on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Learn more about how I can help your business understand and stay ahead of protocol changes:

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🔎 Insights

Enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS) is one of the most important features in Glamsterdam and, by far, the one that is proving the most challenging for developers to implement.

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m continuing in my train of thought from last week about why DeFi protocols are likely to rely on permissioned settings for security as they scale and mature.

Along these lines, it’s not just DeFi protocols that must increasingly rely on centralized coordination for security, but public blockchain protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

P.S. As I mentioned earlier this week, I am joining my former manager, long-time mentor, and dear friend Noelle Acheson for a Substack live session about what life is like as an independent content creator.

We’ll be discussing the highs and lows of newsletter writing and our motivations for choosing this line of work. If you’re interested in joining us, here’s the livestream link. The session will begin at 11 am (ET).

🗒️ Call Minutes

First, a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) #234.

Bal-Devnet-3

• Yesterday, developers launched Bal-Devnet-3, a multi-client test network, to test the execution-layer (EL) code changes in the Glamsterdam upgrade.

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Developer Operations Engineer Stefan Starflinger said there are issues in client implementations of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037, State Creation Gas Cost Increase.

Epbs-Devnet-1

• Developers launched Epbs-Devnet-1 to test the consensus-layer (CL) code changes in the Glamsterdam upgrade a few days ago.

• EF Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa reported several issues that are still under investigation.

Glamsterdam-Devnet-0

• Developers agreed to merge Bals-Devnet-3 and Epbs-Devnet-1 if the issues on these respective testnets can be resolved by next Monday.

• If not, developers discussed launching Bals-Devnet-4 with two additional EIPs that would allow developers to test higher block gas limits and a more complete version of EIP 8037, which would include variable cost per byte of state.

Requests for feedback

• EF Protocol Support Team Lead Nixo Rokish asked for feedback on a new definition for the EIP status known as “scheduled for inclusion” (SFI). SFI normally refers to an EIP being included in a devnet for testing. However, for reasons stated in her pull request (PR), a more nuanced description of this status may be needed.

• Consensys Lead Researcher Mikhail Kalinin asked for feedback on various updates to the Ethereum Engine API.

• Busa requested feedback on his proposal to upgrade the data serialization format on the EL without any consensus changes.

• Chase Wright, a developer at the EF, requested feedback on a new RPC endpoint that returns a node’s pruning policy, along with other information about the historical data the node is storing.

Hegota

• Rokish summarized the decision to consider for inclusion (CFI) EIP 8141, Frame Transactions, for the Hegota upgrade in the prior ACDE call.

• She added that now developers can propose non-headliner EIPs for consideration in the upgrade.

• The EF will give two to four weeks’ notice before closing the deadline for non-headliner EIP proposals.

• EF Researcher Antonio Sanso, who focuses on post-quantum security, expressed his support for enabling native account abstraction in Hegota. Other participants on the call supported Sanso’s sentiments.

• Nethermind Developer Ben Adams shared a proposal to enable account abstraction in Hegota through non-consensus-breaking code changes.

• Erigon Developer Giulio Rebuffo re-surfaced his proposal for “schemed transactions,” a simpler version of EIP 8141 that could be activated ahead of frame transactions.

• Rokish recommended a dedicated breakout call on account abstraction proposals for Hegota to resolve disagreements about the best path forward.

History Expiry

• Developers discussed the minimum amount of history required in Ethereum nodes to stay in sync with the protocol.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #234. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 Interested in being a featured sponsor of this newsletter? Learn more about sponsorship opportunities available for ACD After Hours:

🌑 I also run a research and advisory firm called Protocol Watch for businesses building on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Learn more about how I can help your business understand and stay ahead of protocol changes:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

Last week, I explained why decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols need permissioned settings to scale safely.

The more value these protocols manage, the more value is at risk in the event of a hack or code bug.

Since no software is ever perfect, and all require continual maintenance to remain secure, mitigating the technical risks associated with DeFi requires relying on social governance and regulation to secure user funds when technology fails.

This week, I want to extend the argument further and elaborate on why public blockchain protocols like Ethereum and Bitcoin may also find themselves in a similar situation, needing stronger social governance and regulation to oversee protocol development and maintenance in the long run.

Institutionalization

On Monday, Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of the world’s largest bank, JPMorgan, stated in an open letter to its shareholders that “tokenization” is rapidly reshaping global finance. Dimon said:

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m unpacking the recent Drift Protocol exploit that resulted in the theft of $285 million worth of crypto assets.

The exploit took place on April 1, a day that the crypto industry traditionally spends posting and announcing gratuitous volumes of fake news as part of the April Fool’s custom.

In both announcements about what was a very serious exploit, Drift had to emphasize and re-emphasize:

“This is not an April Fool’s joke.”

Indeed, no one is laughing, except for maybe the attacker. Below, I unpack the sober realizations that the industry is grappling with in light of the worst on-chain hack so far in 2026.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

First, here’s a brief overview of what happened this past week in Ethereum protocol development.

Ethereum developers canceled their weekly Thursday meeting today due to a lack of pressing agenda items to discuss as a group.

Ethereum Foundation Protocol Co-Lead and All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) Call Chair Alex Stokes wrote on Discord:

Other Ethereum protocol-related meetings that took place this past week include:

• All Core Developers Testing #76: Developers shared their progress on several parallel initiatives, including partial cell proofs, the Glamsterdam upgrade, eth/70 and eth/71, and RPC clean-ups. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

• Glamsterdam Gas Repricings #5: Developers discussed ongoing benchmarking efforts for gas repricing Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) in Glamsterdam and final preparations for bal-devnet-3 launch. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

• Post Quantum Transaction Signatures (Execution Layer-Focused) #5: Conor Deegen from Project Eleven and Yannick Seurin from Ledger presented on post-quantum hardware wallet constructions. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

🌕 That’s all for my round-up of Ethereum development updates. Continue reading for my insights on these updates. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 Interested in being a featured sponsor of this newsletter? Learn more about sponsorship opportunities available for ACD After Hours:

🌑 I also run a research and advisory firm called Protocol Watch for businesses building on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Learn more about how I can help your business understand and stay ahead of protocol changes:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

Drift Protocol, the largest decentralized perpetual futures exchange on Solana, was hacked yesterday and drained of an estimated $280 million in crypto assets, nearly half of the protocol’s total value locked (TVL).

The nature and scale of the hack have caused widespread alarm in the crypto industry.

By the amount lost, it is by far the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) hack so far in 2026.

Early investigations into how the hack occurred draw parallels to last year’s Bybit hack, the second-largest DeFi hack of all time, which drained Bybit wallets of an estimated $1.4 billion.

What we know

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m discussing what went down on the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Execution #233, and why I think it suggests major problems about how the headliner selection process is being used in practice in Ethereum governance.

Rather than making the process of scoping upgrades on Ethereum easier, the “headliners” status label for upgrade features has made scoping upgrades harder and more confusing for participants.

Further, what started as an effort to improve the process for scoping upgrades has now been co-opted as a way to engineer specific outcomes in decision-making about the evolution of the Ethereum protocol.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

P.S. My two cents on the Ethereum Foundation forced-signature debacle is that the whole controversy is overblown. If there were an organizational policy worth public scrutiny, it would have been the gross underpayment of one of its top former employees, not a rumored requirement for employees to sign off on a document as inconsequential and uninspiring as the EF mandate.

🗒️ Call Minutes

First, a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) #233.

Bals-Devnet-3

• Developers are preparing to launch another multi-client devnet, Bals-Devnet-3, to test the execution-layer (EL) code changes in the Glamsterdam upgrade.

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Developer Operations Engineer Stefan Starflinger said that local testing of EL client codebases is ongoing, and he optimistically anticipates readiness for a new devnet launch early next week.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• EF Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa reported that staked ETH withdrawals functionality has broken Epbs-Devnet-0, the first multi-client testnet for consensus-layer (CL) code change in the Glamsterdam upgrade.

• Developers are now implementing fixes and improvements to CL clients in preparation for the Epbs-Devnet-1 launch. No timeline was shared on the call for this devnet launch.

• Barnabas highlighted that he is still looking for additional EL client teams to join the Epbs devnets and assist with testing Glamsterdam CL features.

Benchmarkoor

• EF Geth Client Developer Marius van der Wijden presented a new tool called “Benchmarkoor” for benchmarking the performance of different Ethereum EL-CL client configurations. The tool was created by Rafael Matias on the EthPandaOps team. It is a gated tool for client developers. To request access to the tool, developers are encouraged to reach out to Marius or Rafael on the Ethereum R&D Discord channel.

• Based on benchmarking, Marius highlighted that EL clients are seeing roughly a 3x improvement in CPU usage with the implementation of EIP-7928 block-level access lists (BALs).

• Marius also noted that EIP-8037 (State creation), EIP-7976 (Calldata floor increase), and EIP-7981 (Increase access list cost) can all be safely scheduled for testing on Glamsterdam devnets.

EIP-8070, Sparse Blobpool

• Another representative of the Geth client team, Bosul Mun, requested feedback from other client teams on EIP-8070, a non-consensus-breaking, network-level change that reduces bandwidth usage for non-proposer nodes. Bosul shared an initial prototype of the EIP in this HackMD document.

EIP-8141, Frame Transaction

• For background on EIP-8141, listen to this week’s Ready for Merge podcast episode.

• Developers agreed to consider for inclusion (CFI) EIP-8141 in the Hegota upgrade.

• Developers also expressed strong support for working on proposals like EIP-8141 and others that enable native account abstraction in the lead-up to Hegota.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #233. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 Interested in being a featured sponsor of this newsletter? Learn more about sponsorship opportunities available for ACD After Hours:

🌑 I also run a research and advisory firm called Protocol Watch for businesses building on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Learn more about how I can help your business understand and stay ahead of protocol changes:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

The Ethereum headliner process is broken.

What was designed to focus Ethereum upgrades on major features and make timelines more predictable is now being used to obscure community consensus and force it towards a particular direction.

What happened

Read more

Good evening,

Ethereum developers are converging on a decision for the execution layer (EL) headliner of the Hegota upgrade. Despite a clear leaning toward EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions), developers remain hesitant to move forward without broader consensus among client teams.

Tonight, I break down the current client team positions, the governance dynamics shaping this decision, and why there might be a bigger problem on developers’ hands than deciding on the Hegota EL headliner.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🔔 Programming note: There will be no new ACD After Hours post next week. The newsletter will return the following week, on March 26.

🗒️ Call Minutes

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Testing (ACDE) #232.

Bal-Devnet-2

• Bal-Devnet-2, a short-lived testnet for the execution-layer (EL) focused features in the Glamsterdam upgrade, is operating smoothly. The only client that has not yet joined the testnet is Erigon.

Bal-Devnet-3

• Bal-Devnet-3, which includes testing for four additional EL features, has not yet launched. Developers are still debugging client implementations for this devnet.

• Erigon developer Andrew Ashikhmin raised concerns about the complexity of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037, which is part of the Bal-Devnet-3 specifications.

• Developers discussed ways to either simplify EIP 8037 or replace it with a more comprehensive proposal for addressing state growth and gas calculations. They agreed to continue this discussion during next Wednesday’s gas repricing breakout call.

• Developers also agreed to keep EIP 8037 in its current form in scope for Bal-Devnet-3 launch.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• Epbs-Devnet-0, a short-lived testnet for the consensus-layer (CL) focused features in the Glamsterdam upgrade, was launched last Wednesday. The Lighthouse, Lodestar, and Prysm clients are working smoothly on the devnet. Teku and Nimbus are not.

• Validator withdrawals and deposits are working on Epbs-Devnet-0. Validator exits, and 0x03-type block builders do not.

Epbs-Devnet-1

• A new release of CL specifications will be ready by the end of the week. Developers plan to launch Epbs-Devnet-1, incorporating changes from the new specifications, mid next week or the week after.

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa highlighted the need for one more EL client to join the ePBS devnets. Currently, Geth is the only EL client running on the devnet.

Hegota Headliner Selection

• Though developers aimed to make a decision today on the EL Hegota headliner, they agreed to delay the decision for another two weeks, until the next ACDE call.

• Developers were divided on whether to confirm EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions) as the headliner or to forgo an EL headliner feature for the Hegota upgrade.

• The Reth client team was strongly opposed to EIP-8141.

• Nethermind was divided.

• Besu expressed a slight preference toward no EL headliner for Hegota.

• The Geth, Ethrex, and Erigon teams were strongly in favor of EIP-8141 in Hegota.

• Due to a lack of consensus on the call, ACDE Call Chair and EF Researcher Ansgar Dietrichs recommended scheduling another breakout call next week on frame transactions and revisiting this decision in two weeks.

• Regarding the other EL Hegota proposals, LUCID and Pureth, developers agreed that these would be better reconsidered for inclusion in the upgrade after Hegota.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #232. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

The Ethereum developer community remains divided over what the execution layer (EL) headliner feature for Hegota should be.

As background, Hegota is a combined consensus layer (CL) and execution layer upgrade tentatively scheduled for activation on mainnet sometime early next year, following the Glamsterdam upgrade.

Last month, developers agreed that the main CL feature of the upgrade should be EIP-7805, Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL).

On today’s Ethereum All Core Devs Execution (ACDE) call, developers narrowed the remaining options for the EL headliner to two:

• EIP-8141 (FRAME transactions)

• No EL headliner

This narrowing formalizes what the discussion had already been trending toward on prior calls. The other proposals previously under consideration, LUCID and Pureth, were formally rejected as candidates for Hegota on today’s call.

Importantly, choosing no EL headliner would not mean Hegota ships without EL changes. It would simply mean no EL proposal receives “headliner” status.

What “Headliner” status even means

The “headliner” label is relatively new in Ethereum’s governance process, and there is still some confusion about what it signifies.

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m talking about an underrated concept in Ethereum: hardness. It’s an idea that was coined by the Ethereum Foundation’s Josh Stark in 2022 that I still return to often as one of the most helpful measures of success for public blockchains.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

Ethereum developers cancelled their weekly Thursday meeting today to encourage participation in other protocol-related meetings.

Below is an overview of the meetings that took place this past week, and links to where readers can get more information about what was discussed:

• All Core Developers Testing #72: Developers shared updates on their progress for several parallel initiatives, including partial cell proofs, the Glamsterdam upgrade, eth/70, and Layer-1 scaling. Full call summary on my Substack.

• Fast Confirmation Rule #4: An edge case with the fast confirmation rule feature was identified and fixed by a developer from the Nimbus team. Also, a comprehensive test repository for client implementations of the fast confirmation rule is nearing completion. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

• Glamsterdam Gas Repricings #3: Developers discussed community feedback on EIP 8037 (State Creation Gas Cost Increase) and concerns about the proposal’s complexity. They also discussed caching issues related to EIP 8038 (State-access gas cost update) implementations. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

• Post Quantum Transaction Signatures (Execution Layer-Focused) #3: Cryptographer Renaud Dubois presented his proposal for a precompiled contract that would make post-quantum signature verification more efficient. Meeting summary by Ethereum Foundation Researcher Antonio Sanso on X.

• Post Quantum Interop (Consensus Layer-Focused) #29: The Lantern, Qlean, and Ethlambda clients are running successfully on pq-devnet-3. Developers discussed the next steps to finalize the specifications for pq-devnet-4 and scope out those for pq-devnet-5. Meeting minutes written by the meeting chair, Will Corcoran, on Github.

• LUCID Breakout Discussion: The LUCID proposal has been formalized into an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) and assigned the number 8184. Developers discussed the proposal’s design and areas for further exploration. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

• FRAME Breakout Discussion: Developers agreed to work on a default frame transaction for basic user-controlled accounts. Concerns were raised about the proposal’s extreme flexibility, which could hinder adoption and increase the complexity of securing user accounts. FRAME co-author and Ethereum Foundation Geth Team Lead Felix Lange acknowledged that an open question about this proposal is how it should be encoded in the protocol to enable post-quantum signature aggregation. Meeting transcript and chat logs on Forkcast.

🌕 That’s all for my round-up of Ethereum development updates. Continue reading for my insights on these updates. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Ossification vs. hardness

The goal of any technology, institution, or protocol should never be complete ossification.

If a technology ossifies, it will eventually fall out of use. Its inability to adapt to new technological realities or changing user needs will make whatever utility it once had obsolete.

In most domains, ossification is a death sentence.

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m unveiling a new project that I’m working on called All Protocol Devs. It’s a series intended to help foster connections between full-time protocol developers in the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems.

Despite the open-source nature of Bitcoin and Ethereum, development on these protocols is largely siloed. This is primarily due to the highly decentralized nature of these developer communities and the depth of specialization that is often required to contribute meaningfully to these protocols.

All Protocol Devs is intended to create spaces for connection both within these developer communities and between them. More on the idea and how to get involved below.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🔔 Programming note: Starting next week, this newsletter will switch from a twice-weekly cadence to once weekly to focus on higher-signal developments in Ethereum protocol development.

Most decisions and topics covered on Monday’s All Core Developers (ACD) calls are reiterated on the Thursday calls, and are, at times, unnecessary to cover on a weekly basis.

(As a side note, for these reasons, Ethereum developers are currently discussing reducing the cadence of the Monday calls or making them seasonal.)

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Testing (ACDT) #72.

Announcements

• Future execution specifications fixture releases from the Ethereum Foundation (EF) Testing team will follow a different directory layout.

• Previously, fixture files accumulated test cases for every target fork in a single file, meaning each file grew with every new fork.

• Fixtures are now split into per-fork sub-directories, keeping file sizes bounded and allowing more targeted testing of client codebases.

Blob-Devnet-0

• Blob-Devnet-0 testing partial cell proofs is still running.

• Consensus layer (CL) client teams are encouraged to join the devnet as soon as their partial cell proof implementations are ready for testing.

Bal-Devnet-2

• Bal-Devnet-2, testing the execution layer (EL) code changes for the Glamsterdam upgrade, is still running.

• The Ethrex and Erigon clients were recently added to the devnet.

• Developers will soon begin running stateful tests and benchmarking analysis on Bal-Devnet-2.

Bal-Devnet-3

• All remaining open pull requests (PRs) for Bal-Devnet-3 will be merged over the next few days. If there are any objections to them, developers are encouraged to comment on GitHub as soon as possible.

• Client teams reported that they are ready for a Bal-Devnet-3 launch later this week.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• Client teams also reported that they are ready for an Epbs-Devnet-0 launch later this week.

• Epbs-Devnet-0 will test the consensus layer (CL) code changes for the Glamsterdam upgrade.

Nft-Devnet-10

• Nft-Devnet-10, testing the new Ethereum networking protocol, eth/70, is still running.

• Besu recently joined the devnet. Reth will be added this week.

Perf-Devnet-3

• Perf-Devnet-3, testing Ethereum at higher state size and growth levels, is also still running.

• Nethermind and Reth are experiencing issues on the devnet that developers are currently investigating.

• Jochem Brouwer, an engineer on the EF Protocol Prototyping team, presented a new tool for testing clients in large state environments. The tool, dubbed “state actor,” can be found here.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDT #72. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Over the course of my eight-year career reporting on and researching open-source blockchain protocols, I’ve been struck by the lack of cross-collaboration between developers.

On the one hand, this is understandable across different protocols. Full-time developers are often constrained by time, energy, and bandwidth. Engaging deeply with contributors from other ecosystems may not feel like a priority, especially if those ecosystems are viewed as competitors or, worse, as illegitimate scams.

But what has surprised me more is that even developers working on the same protocol can feel siloed.

Read more

Good evening,

Today, Ethereum developers debated the execution layer (EL) Hegota headliner, and as I mentioned in prior newsletters, the main contender appears to be EIP-8141, Frame Transactions. However, because the proposal lacks sufficient consensus within the Ethereum developer community, it is possible that developers will not settle on any EL headliner feature for Hegota and simply ship this upgrade with a consensus layer (CL) headliner only.

Tonight, I’m unpacking the debate over the EL Hegota headliner, the current developer sentiment behind both options, and my outlook on where this debate is likely to land.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Testing (ACDE) #231.

Testing updates

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa highlighted parallel testing efforts across multiple developer-focused test networks, also called devnets. The devnets he highlighted included: Blob-devnet-0, Bal-devnet-2, NFT-devnet-10, and Perf-devnet-3. For a more detailed update on the testing efforts happening across these devnets, refer to the All Core Developer Testing (ACDT) call summary in Monday’s newsletter.

• Busa confirmed that developers are aiming to launch Bal-devnet-3 and Epbs-devnet-0 next week. The specifications sheet for Bal-devnet-3 is available for client teams to review here.

Miscellaneous updates

• Sina Mahmoodi from the EF Geth team shared an update on the new execution layer (EL) history archive format called “EraE.” The idea is that expired history data from Ethereum full nodes will be generated through EraE files. Mahmoodi requested feedback from client teams on the latest EraE specifications.

• Mercy Boma Naps-Nkari, a developer working on a lean Ethereum consensus-layer client called “Zeam,” requested feedback on a new pull request for standardizing execution API methods in the txpool namespace.

• EF Geth Team Lead Felix Lange highlighted that the txpool namespace standardization efforts are not geared towards external Ethereum users, but rather protocol developers. He said the standardization is motivated by the goal of making client debugging and testing on devnets easier.

Hegota EL headliner discussions

• The authors of EIP-8015, Universal Enshrined Encrypted Mempool, retracted their proposal from consideration in the Hegota upgrade. Instead, they are now supporting LUCID, an alternative design for enabling encryption in the public mempool. For more details about this decision, listen to this Wednesday’s Ready for Merge podcast episode featuring the authors of EIP-8015 and LUCID.

• For background on the three remaining Hegota EL headliner proposals, refer to the following prior newsletters:

  • LUCID

  • FRAME

  • SSZ

• Erigon client developer Andrew Ashikhmin favored prioritizing FRAME as the EL headliner for Hegota.

• Besu developer Daniel Lehrner said his team is supportive of LUCID.

• Geth developer “Lightclient,” who was also one of the authors of the FRAME proposal, supported FRAME.

• Nethermind developer Lukasz Rozmej was not confident in any of the Hegota EL headliner proposals, nor were Reth developer Dragan Rakita and Geth developer Marius van der Wijden.

• Nimbus developer “Dustin” said his team is supportive of SSZ as a headliner for Hegota.

• Lightclient strongly opposed prioritizing LUCID in Hegota, citing concerns about the proposal’s maturity and readiness for implementation.

• Rakita expressed several concerns about the complexity of FRAME and its potential negative impacts on smart contract and wallet developer tooling.

• Danno Ferrin, a developer at Tectonic, raised concerns about how the FRAME proposal handles the large size of post-quantum (PQ) signatures, which can be multiple kilobytes and require signature aggregation for efficient verification.

• Developers agreed to reconvene next week for a dedicated breakout call on FRAME.

• They also agreed to postpone a final decision on any of the Hegota EL headliner proposals until the next ACDE call in two weeks.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #231. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Ethereum developers are currently leaning toward either prioritizing FRAME as the execution-layer (EL) headliner for Hegota or shipping the upgrade without an EL-focused headliner altogether.

Read more

Good evening,

In a prior newsletter, I discussed protocol changes in Ethereum’s development that would impact block-building dynamics.

They included enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS), a feature forthcoming in Ethereum’s next major network-wide upgrade, Glamsterdam, and fork choice enforced inclusion lists (FOCIL), a feature developers recently agreed to prioritize in the upgrade after Glamsterdam called Hegota.

Tonight, I want to highlight non-protocol-level changes in the works by the research and development organization Flashbots, which are also anticipated to impact block-building dynamics on Ethereum and beyond.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Testing (ACDT) #71.

Blob-Devnet-0

• Blob-Devnet-0, the test network for supporting partial cell requests, currently supports Lighthouse and Prysm client implementations.

• Matthew Keil from the Lodestar team said their implementation should be ready by this Thursday.

• Saulius Grigaitis from the Grandine team said they will be ready next week.

• Stefan Bratanov from the Teku team did not give a timeline, but shared that they are also working towards joining Blob-Devnet-0.

Bal-Devnet-3

• Bal-Devnet-3, the test network for the execution layer (EL) features of the Glamsterdam upgrade, is on track for a launch on March 4.

• To avoid delays to the Bal-Devnet-3 launch, developers agreed to use hard-coded values to generate static tests for Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8037, State Creation Gas Cost Increase.

• Developers will reference tests for EIP 8037 from the Ethereum execution layer specifications (EELS) GitHub repository, rather than the EIP itself, just for Bal-Devnet-3.

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Developer Operations Engineer Parithosh Jayanthi highlighted a new Engine API endpoint that all EL client teams should add to their Bal-Devnet-3 implementations, which will significantly enhance software debugging efforts.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• Epbs-Devnet-0, the test network for the consensus layer (CL) features of the Glamsterdam upgrade, is scheduled for launch on March 4.

• There is already a working test network that supports interoperability between Lodestar and Lighthouse clients.

• Ideally, Epbs-Devnet-0 will support three to four CL clients.

Gas Limit Testing

• Block gas limit testing efforts are currently focused on benchmarking for the gas repricing EIPs in Glamsterdam.

Perf-Devnet-2

• Perf-Devnet-2, the test network for testing EL clients at higher state growth levels, is back up and running.

• Developers will run snapshots and further analysis on the devnet once Erigon nodes are fully synced.

• Developers also agreed to relaunch the devnet with a different distribution of validator keys across nodes to identify more client performance bottlenecks.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDT #71. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Flashbots is an organization that single-handedly revolutionized block building on Ethereum both before and after the protocol’s transition to proof-of-stake.

Read more

Good evening,

Today, Ethereum developers officially scheduled EIP-7805, Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL), for the Hegota fork. The decision fulfills a commitment developers made last year to prioritize FOCIL in the upgrade following Glamsterdam.

With the consensus layer (CL) headliner now locked in, attention shifts to the execution layer (EL). Next week, developers are expected to decide which EL proposal will headline Hegota, a choice that may prove more contentious than today’s.

Tonight, I break down where that decision appears to be heading and preview an upcoming live Ready for Merge podcast episode focused on the Hegota EL headliner selection.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) #175.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• “Kingy” from the Lighthouse client team said they will be ready for interoperability testing with their enshrined proposed builder separation (ePBS) implementation in the next week or two.

• A representative from the Teku client team said they will be ready for interop next week.

• James He from the Prysm team did not specify a timeline, but said progress is being made on their ePBS implementation.

• PR #4843 discussing variable deadlines for block proposals remains open. It is not a blocker to ePBS interoperability testing, but the open design question will need to be resolved eventually.

Hegota CL Headliner Selection

• Developers agreed to finalize FOCIL as the main headliner feature for the Hegota upgrade on the consensus layer.

• For background on FOCIL, listen to the latest Ready for Merge podcast episode featuring FOCIL champion and Ethereum Foundation (EF) researcher Jihoon Song:

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDC #175. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

FOCIL, the new Hegota headliner

The Hegota CL headliner is confirmed.

Read more

Good evening,

Two weeks ago, I shared my views on the role of AI in the creator economy.

Tonight, I’m discussing the role of AI in Ethereum governance.

I fully support the idea that AI tools such as OpenAI’s OpenClaw and Anthropic’s Claude, among others, should play a meaningful role in decentralized decision-making—particularly at the organizational and individual levels. AI can make developers more efficient, improve coordination, and streamline workflow across the ecosystem.

But when it comes to shaping the evolution of Ethereum itself, I’m more skeptical of the benefits of AI.

Ethereum’s core disagreements aren’t about processing more information or optimizing faster. They’re about what the protocol should be optimized for. Until there’s clarity on that, AI won’t resolve the most fundamental tensions in governance.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

P.S. If you disagree (or strongly agree) with my takes in these newsletters, don’t let the discussion stop at your inbox. Please take your thoughts and comments to the subscriber chat! Friendly debate is what the chat is created for. I welcome continued discussion on these topics with subscribers. (A premium subscription is required for access to the chat.)

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Testing (ACDT) #70.

Blob-Devnet-0

• The Ethereum Foundation (EF) EthPandaOps team has launched a devnet to test implementations of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8136, Cell-Level Deltas for Data Column Broadcast.

• Consensus layer (CL) client teams are encouraged to join the devnet, blob-devnet-0, as soon as their EIP-8136 implementations are ready for testing.

Bal-Devnet-2

• The Erigon team expects to join Bal-Devnet-2 by the end of this week.

Bal-Devnet-3

• EF Protocol Prototyping Team Lead Toni Wahrstatter noted an upcoming change to EIP-7928 specifications. To prevent denial-of-service attacks on block-level access lists (BALs), developers will cap list size based on the block gas limit, among other protocol-enforced variables.

• Wahrstatter said he is ideating ways to simplify the calculation for the cap, and encouraged client teams to review the changes finalized so far for EIP-7928 on Github. He noted these changes will likely not be ready for testing on Bal-Devnet-3.

• Wahrstatter also requested client feedback on changes to the execution API JSON-RPC method for EIP-7928. He noted these changes should ideally be ready for testing on Bal-Devnet-3.

• Developers are testing new versions of the Ethereum Wire Protocol on “nft-devnet-10.” Developers reconfirmed that these versions, eth/70 and eth/71, will be included for testing on Bal-Devnet-3.

• Developers aim to launch Bal-Devnet-3 around March 4.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• Nimbus, Lighthouse, Teku, and Lodestar reported progress on their implementations of EIP-7732, which enshrines proposer builder separation (ePBS). However, their implementations will not be ready for testing on a devnet over the next few days. Developers agreed to share another progress update on the next ACDT call.

Perf-Devnet-2

• Perf-devnet-2 is a dedicated test network for developers to stress-test Ethereum clients. The network is currently unusable as no clients have been able to sync to the chain. Developers discussed a strategy for restarting the devnet.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDT #70. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Shortly after announcing that he would step down as Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, Tomasz Stańczak shared his views on elevating the role of AI in Ethereum’s future.

He followed up on Sunday, suggesting that this vision could become reality within the next two to three years.

Stańczak hasn’t formally announced what he’ll be working on next, but his recent posts suggest it may involve AI infrastructure for Ethereum.

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m talking about two Hegota headliner proposals that seek to do the same thing: protect end-users from frontrunning and sandwiching attacks.

One is more complex than the other but offers users stronger transaction inclusion guarantees.

In theory, both promise stronger censorship resistance and fairer execution. In practice, the real question is whether users and wallets will adopt them.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) #230.

Bal-Devnet-2

• Bal-devnet-2 is still running. No major issues to report in clients.

• The Erigon client has not yet joined the devnet.

• Developers agreed to close PR #11094 (Update EIP-8024: Switch encoding to push-postfix) in the ethereum/EIPs repository due to a lack of consensus on the change.

• Developers favored merging PR #11306 (Update EIP-8024: Switch to branchless normalization) in the ethereum/EIPs repository, as it would make implementation of one of the proposals in Glamsterdam slightly simpler.

Bal-Devnet-3

• During a breakout meeting on Wednesday, developers agreed on two minor specification changes to block-level access lists (BALs). They agreed to test these changes on the next devnet, Bal-devnet-3.

• They also agreed to expand the scope of testing on Bal-devnet-3 to three additional EIPs: EIP 8037 (State creation gas cost increase), EIP 7954 (Increase Maximum Contract Size), and EIP 7975 (eth/70 - partial block receipt lists).

• As discussed on ACDE #229, developers will prioritize a handful of client-level optimizations for BALs in Bal-devnet-3.

• Finally, in addition to EIP 7975, developers will include the next version of Ethereum’s messaging protocol, called the Wire Protocol, eth/71, for testing on a future devnet.

Hegota

• Besu client developer Justin Florentine and Ethereum Foundation (EF) Researcher Anders Elowsson presented the “LUCID encrypted mempool” proposal as a headliner feature for the Hegota upgrade.

• In addition to LUCID, three other execution layer (EL)-focused headliner proposals are under evaluation for Hegota.

• Florentine said there will be a breakout meeting on LUCID next Wednesday at 15:00 UTC for anyone interested in learning more about the proposal.

• Geth client developer “Lightclient” shared updates on EIP-8141, Frame Transaction, another Hegota headliner proposal, and highlighted that an implementation and corresponding tests for the proposal are being written.

• EF Researcher and Chair of the ACDE, Ansgar Dietrichs, said client teams should work towards having a write-up on their preferences for the EL Headliner by the next ACDE call in two weeks.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #230. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consulting services for business building on Ethereum or Bitcoin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Two of the four EL-focused Hegota headliner proposals aim to encrypt transactions in the public mempool to protect users from “toxic MEV.”

Toxic MEV refers to transaction reordering strategies that worsen execution for users — most notably frontrunning and sandwich attacks.

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m taking a closer look at centralization in Ethereum’s block-building market.

Recently, one entity, Titan, has amassed 50% market share, becoming responsible for building roughly half of all Ethereum blocks.

Below, I explain what this statistic does and does not indicate about protocol resilience, and what Ethereum developers are doing at the protocol level to respond to the realities of an increasingly centralized block-building market.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

First, here’s a quick summary of the latest Ethereum developer call, All Core Developers Testing (ACDT) #69.

Bal-Devnet-2

• The Ethereum Foundation (EF) EthPandaOps team launched Bal-devnet-2 last Friday, February 6.

• Bal-devnet-2 is a developer-focused test network for the execution layer (EL)- focused code changes in the Glamsterdam upgrade. To see the full list of EL-focused Glamsterdam code changes, refer to this Google spreadsheet.

• Developers are investigating syncing issues with Nethermind and Nimbus EL client on the devnet.

• Developers agreed on the call to increase the block gas limit on bal-devnet-2 in stages, first to 70 million, then to 100 million.

• There is a breakout call to discuss minor specification changes in EIP 7928 (Block-Level Access Lists) this Wednesday, February 11.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• Consensus layer (CL) client teams are continuing to work toward a planned devnet launch of CL-focused Glamsterdam features by the end of this month.

Eth/70

• EL client teams are working towards a new major version of the Ethereum Wire Protocol, eth/70, which dictates communication between node peers.

• The EthPandaOps team is presently testing eth/70 implementations in isolation from other Glamsterdam features. They plan to add it to a Glamsterdam devnet for further testing eventually.

Benchmarking

• The EF and Nethermind are spearheading benchmarking efforts for the gas repricing code changes in Glamsterdam.

• The EF hosted a dedicated breakout call on gas repricing efforts last Wednesday, February 4. A detailed breakdown of the timeline and deliverables for gas repricing benchmarks can be found on this Github page.

• EthPandaOps demoed a new tool for benchmarking EL clients called Benchmarkoor. The tool runs standardized tests against multiple clients (Geth, Nethermind, Besu, Erigon, Reth, Nimbus) in isolated Docker containers and collects performance metrics.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDT #69. Continue reading for my insights on Ethereum development and governance. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consultations on Ethereum protocol development and governance. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Last week, Ethereum Foundation Protocol Prototyping Team Lead Toni Wahrstätter shared this statistic about Ethereum’s block building market:

Roughly every other Ethereum block is being built by the same entity.

While this data point highlights increasing centralization in Ethereum’s block-building market, it does not indicate a centralized point of failure within the protocol.

Read more

Good evening,

Today, I’m writing about what looks like the end of an era in Ethereum development.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin—the single most influential individual in the Ethereum ecosystem—has publicly declared the end of the rollup-centric roadmap, a vision he first laid out in 2020 and one that has guided years of technical development, funding, and ecosystem growth.

The community response has been a mix of shock from some and relieved acceptance from most, as developers and builders begin to reframe how a new roadmap—one focused on scaling Ethereum Layer-1 by orders of magnitude—can still enable their products and services to succeed.

Below, I break down the two main failings of the rollup-centric roadmap, what its unwinding means for Layer-1 protocol development, and how Layer-2s still fit into this new era of Ethereum development.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

Cell-Level Deltas for Data Column Broadcast

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Networking Engineer Marco Munizaga gave a presentation on Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 8136 in the “ethereum/EIPs” Github repository.

• This backward-compatible optimization will reduce node bandwidth consumption during blob propagation.

• Munizaga emphasized that EIP-8136 can be rolled out incrementally and does not require network-wide coordination to be activated.

• Developers agreed to try to activate EIP-8136 as soon as possible, even before the Glamsterdam upgrade.

Epbs-Devnet-0

• There is a new consensus specifications release, v1.7.0-alpha.2, for the Gloas fork. The first multi-client testnet for Gloas, epbs-devnet-0, will be based on these specifications.

• Developers confirmed they are still targeting a hopeful devnet launch by the end of this month.

• Prysm client developer “Potuz” noted that a “serious bug” in EIP-7732, Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), was identified by the Lido team. Developers are working on a fix to address the bug.

• Potuz also flagged that the optimistic sync feature in consensus layer (CL) clients may cause complications during the implementation of new fork choice rules required in ePBS. He strongly encouraged CL client teams to review his annotated specifications for the Gloas fork for more information.

Hegota Headliner Discussion

• Developers discussed two CL-focused headliner proposals for the Heze fork:

  • EIP-7805: Fork-choice enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL)

  • Partial Reconstruction and 2D PeerDAS

• Several developers on the call voiced strong support for FOCIL.

• As the deadline for headliner proposals has now passed, developers agreed to reach a final decision on the headliner feature for Heze on the next ACDC call in two weeks.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDC #174. Continue reading for insights and direct quotes about the evolution of Ethereum. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consultations on Ethereum protocol development and governance. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Vitalik’s post on Tuesday may have been the most incendiary one yet in his 2026 posting streak.

In it, he states—plainly and without much hedging—two facts about Ethereum’s Layer-2 (L2) rollup ecosystem:

1. L2s are not Ethereum, either from a security or a user experience (UX) perspective.

2. L2s are not how Ethereum is scaling. Ethereum developers are refocusing on Layer-1 (L1) scaling efforts.

It’s worth emphasizing that Vitalik stated the above as fact, not opinion. They’re framed as statements about the reality of how the Ethereum L2 ecosystem has evolved.

Read more

Good evening,

This is the final week for Ethereum stakeholders to submit proposals for headliner features in the Hegota upgrade.

As I mentioned to my premium subscribers last week in the Telegram chat, developers are still planning Glamsterdam, which will precede Hegota.

The last time developers planned two forks in advance, recall Pectra and Fusaka, they vowed not to do it again to avoid last-minute changes to both fork scopes.

While this time, developers are on a stricter timeline to ship Glamsterdam and Hegota in the same calendar year, I would encourage headliner champions to be wary of how ongoing changes to Glamsterdam’s scope may impact the priorities and timeline for Hegota, and could lead to similarly drastic changes to the fork’s scope, as we saw in the aftermath of the great Pectra split.

That’s a freebie takeaway. The actual takeaway from today’s newsletter will be about a topic unrelated to protocol development.

Today, I’m talking about an issue close to my heart, the issue of the creator economy.

Inspired by yesterday’s X post from Vitalik Buterin on creator coins, I’m sharing my views below on how I foresee the role of crypto playing out in the new creator economy.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

Fusaka

• Consensus layer (CL) client teams are working on their implementation of partial cell proofs, which will allow higher blob counts on Ethereum mainnet.

• Developers are testing higher blob counts on a dedicated testnet, blob-devnet-0.

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Developer Operations Engineer Barnabas Busa noted that the Prysm and Lighthouse clients are not responding to the MIN_EPOCHS_FOR_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECARS_REQUESTS field, which is causing nodes on blob-devnet-0 to struggle under higher blob counts.

• Busa requested that client teams continue working on their partial cell proof implementations and, for the Prysm and Lighthouse teams specifically, to look into the field issue.

Benchmarking updates

• Busa noted that on next week’s All Core Developers Testing (ACDT) call, one of his team members will share a demo of a new benchmarking tool for execution layer (EL) clients.

Glamsterdam

• Bals-devnet-2 is still on schedule for a launch this Wednesday, February 4.

• EF Developer Operations Engineer Stefan Starflinger said that he has been testing client implementations for the launch and shared a few issues.

• Starflinger noted that the Lighthouse and Lodestar CL clients are ready for testing on bals-devnet-2.

• Busa asked all client teams to implement the following two pull requests (PR) by Wednesday’s devnet launch:

  • Execution API PR #726: Add EIP-7928 Block-level Access Lists JSON RPC methods

  • Execution API PR #727: Define EIP-7928 API methods

• For epbs-devnet-0, tentatively scheduled for launch in late February, developers agreed to update the devnet scope to include all changes in the latest consensus specifications release, v1.7.0-alpha.2.

Hegota proposal deadline

• Busa reminded participants on the call that the deadline to propose headliner features for the Hegota fork is this Wednesday, February 4.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDT #68. Continue reading for insights and direct quotes about the evolution of Ethereum. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

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🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consultations on Ethereum protocol development and governance. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin continues on his social media tear.

Yesterday, he published a post laying out his vision for creator coins—cryptocurrencies designed to reward people for producing content.

This particular post landed close to home for me.

I’m a content creator. I think a lot about how to monetize what I do in a way that’s sustainable, but also doesn’t quietly turn my work into engagement bait.

Read more

Good evening,

The Hegota headliner discussions officially kicked off today, with presentations of three ambitious Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs).

What stood out most in today’s conversation was the vocal participation of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Buterin is no stranger to these calls, but his sustained engagement throughout today’s discussion may signal an intention to take a more active role in the Hegota headliner selection process than he has in prior fork-scoping debates.

In today’s newsletter, I discuss in more detail why that is, as well as highlight another piece of news, not directly related to protocol development, but involving high-profile developers in Ethereum’s ecosystem.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🔔Programming note: Sponsorship opportunities in 2026 for the ACD After Hours newsletter are now available. If you have a business or product that you want to get featured in this newsletter, please reply directly to this email.

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

New Breakout Calls

• There are three new breakout call series that will kick off in the next few weeks.

  • Post quantum transaction signature (PQTS)

  • Layer-1 zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (L1 zkEVMs)

  • Glamsterdam gas repricings

• Details about each of these call series have been added to the Ethereum Protocol Meetings resource in the ACD Toolkit.

BALs Devnet-2

• Developers plan to launch the next block-level access lists (BALs) devnet to test the execution layer (EL) components of the Glamsterdam upgrade next Wednesday, February 4.

• Developers agreed to make the following client-level optimizations for BALs a mandatory part of the Glamsterdam upgrade:

  • parallel execution

  • batch reads

  • parallel state root calculations

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Researcher Maria Inês Silva highlighted that these optimizations are necessary for accurate gas repricing in Glamsterdam.

• EF Researcher and ACDE Call Chair Ansgar Dietrichs acknowledged that discussion is needed on how to specify the mandatory client-level optimizations for Glamsterdam. He also noted that the above client optimizations should be prioritized for implementation ahead of other Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) in the Glamsterdam Considered for Inclusion (CFI’d) list.

• Dietrichs also noted that developers need to agree on how to prioritize EIPs in the CFI’d list for testing on future Glamsterdam devnets.

• Daniel Lehrner, a Besu client developer at Consensys, noted that EIP-7954 (Increase Maximum Contract Size) should be prioritized for inclusion in a devnet to enable developers to proceed with accurate client benchmarking.

• EF Protocol Prototyping Team Lead Toni Wahrstatter added that developers should also discuss on a future call whether to test a higher block gas limit of 150 million gas on BALs Devnet-2.

Glamsterdam Scope Changes

• Developers agreed to CFI EIP-7610 (Revert creation in case of non-empty storage). However, developers acknowledged open issues with the proposal that must be resolved before implementation.

• Developers also agreed to implement EIP-7872 (Max blob flag for local builders) and EIP-7949 (Genesis File Format) in Glamsterdam. However, they will not specify these changes in the Glamsterdam meta EIP document because they are non-consensus-breaking client-level optimizations.

• EF Geth Client Developer Csaba Kiraly presented on two non-protocol changes related to EIP-8070, Sparse blobpool, for consideration in Glamsterdam:

  • EIP-8077: eth/XX - announce transactions with nonce

  • EIP-8094: eth/vhash - Blob-Aware Mempool

  • Kiraly’s presentation on the two EIPs above is available at this Google Slides link.

  • Developers did not reach a decision on these EIPs.

Hegota Headliner EIP Presentations

• Jannik Luhn, a Software Engineer at Brainbot Technologies AG, presented EIP 8105, Universal Enshrined Encrypted Mempool (EEM), as a headliner feature for the Hegota fork.

  • EIP-8105 is an in-protocol mechanism for encrypting user transactions submitted to the public mempool to protect them from front-running, sandwich attacks, and censorship.

  • There will be a breakout meeting on EIP 8105 next Tuesday, February 3, at 2 pm (UTC)/9 am (ET).

• EF Geth Team Lead Felix Lange presented EIP-8141, Frame Transaction, as a headliner feature for the Hegota fork.

  • EIP-8141 introduces a new transaction that allows Ethereum accounts to define and interpret signature schemes using any cryptographic system, not just the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). This would enable full account abstraction on Ethereum and prepare Ethereum accounts for use with post-quantum secure cryptography.

  • Lehrner noted that this type of EIP should be discussed extensively with wallet providers and other ecosystem stakeholders that offer services to help users manage their Ethereum accounts.

  • Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his strong support for EIP-8141.

• Etan Kissling, a Nimbus client developer supported by the Institute of Free Technology, presented EIP-7807, SSZ execution blocks, as a headliner feature for Hegota.

  • EIP-7807 would create a unified block representation across Ethereum’s consensus layer (CL) and execution layer (EL) to enable more efficient communication and verification of block data across these layers.

• Ethereum stakeholders have until next Wednesday, February 4, to propose additional headliner features for Hegota.

• Developers will discuss EIP-7805, fork choice enforced inclusion lists (FOCIL), as a headliner candidate for Hegota on next Thursday’s ACDC call.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDE #229. Continue reading for pointed takeaways and direct quotes about Ethereum protocol development. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consultations on Ethereum protocol development and governance. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

The Hegota headliner discussions officially kicked off today, with presentations on three candidate EIPs: EIP-8105, EIP-8141, and EIP-7807.

Read more

Good evening,

Tonight, I’m talking about Bitcoin. Well, specifically, Bitcoin’s post-quantum security roadmap in relation to Ethereum’s.

I often discuss Ethereum in my Bitcoin newsletters, BTC Before Light, but I realized I don’t often discuss Bitcoin in the context of ACD After Hours.

But today I found the perfect opportunity, thanks to an announcement over the weekend by the Ethereum Foundation’s Justin Drake about the organization’s newfound focus on post-quantum research and development.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🔔Programming note: Sponsorship opportunities in 2026 for the ACD After Hours newsletter are now available. If you have a business or product that you want to get featured in this newsletter, please reply directly to this email.

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

BALs Devnet-2

• Developers are preparing to launch a new multi-client developer-focused test network (devnet) for testing Glamsterdam features called BALs Devnet-2.

• There is a new reference-test release for the five execution-layer (EL)-focused code changes that developers plan to test on BALs Devnet-2.

• The Geth, Besu, and Reth client teams reported that they are ready to proceed with BALs Devnet-2 launch this week.

• However, due to a pending change to EIP-7778, client teams agreed to delay the BALs Devnet-2 launch until clients have this change implemented.

ePBS Devnet-0

• BALs Devnet-2 focuses on implementing EL-focused Glamsterdam features. The devnet for testing consensus-layer (CL) changes in the upgrade is called ePBS Devnet-0, named after the CL-headliner feature for Glamsterdam, enshrined proposer builder separation.

• All CL client teams reported progress towards ePBS Devnet-0 launch. However, as discussed last Thursday and reiterated on this call, client teams are unlikely to be ready for a devnet launch until late February.

• Developers discussed an open issue related to Beacon API software that may break previous functionality for retrieving block data.

• Ethereum Foundation (EF) Researcher Justin Traglia said he is working on a new CL specifications release for ePBS Devnet-1 launch, which will follow after ePBS Devnet-0 launch.

ACD Process Changes

• EF Testing Team Lead Mario Vega shared clarifications on the devnet testing process to differentiate between a feature being tested on devnet vs. labeled as “scheduled for inclusion” in an upgrade.

• Ethereum Cat Herders President Pooja Ranjan highlighted three outstanding issues for organizing information about blob-parameter-only (BPO) hard forks in the Ethereum Github Project Management repository.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDT #67. Continue reading for pointed takeaways and direct quotes about Ethereum protocol development. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consultations on Ethereum protocol development and governance. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

On Friday, Ethereum Foundation (EF) researcher Justin Drake shared several announcements regarding the organization’s new focus on post-quantum (PQ) research and development.

Most of the announcements were minor. There were plans for more meetings, more educational podcasts, and updates on development, such as the PQ devnets and workshops, that have been underway since 2025.

Read more

Good evening,

Ethereum developers came to a hard realization today. They may need to drastically scale back the scope of Glamsterdam to ship it by mid-year.

Some of my readers who have followed my newsletters from Pectra upgrade days may be groaning inwardly and thinking, “Not again!”

Now, developers haven’t acknowledged the clear mismatch between the scope and the proposed timeline for Glamsterdam.

They’ve only, as of today’s All Core Developer Consensus (ACDC) call, acknowledged there may be one, and if there is, they should address the issue by the end of February.

So, this is what I’ll be discussing in today’s newsletter: the rock and a hard place that Ethereum developers may find themselves in (yet again) in the process of shipping the Glamsterdam upgrade.

Let’s get into it.

Yours truly,

Christine D. Kim

🔔Programming note: Sponsorship opportunities in 2026 for the ACD After Hours newsletter are now available. If you have a business or product that you want to get featured in this newsletter, please reply directly to this email.

🗒️ Call Minutes

(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)

Announcements

• Reminder that the status of the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that were activated in the Fusaka upgrade should be updated to “Final” by the relevant EIP authors.

ePBS Devnet-0

• Developers agreed to aim for interoperable implementations of EIP 7732, enshrined proposer builder separation (ePBS), by the end of February.

• If not, they discussed potentially removing the EIP from the scope of Glamsterdam and reconsidering the proposal for a future hard fork.

Teku Node Slowdowns on Mainnet

• In December, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) EthPandaOps team initiated a stress test on Ethereum mainnet to see how nodes would respond to a high volume of blob activity.

• Enrico del Fante, a developer at Consensys who works on the Teku client, reported issues in their client that were discovered during these stress tests.

• He said that his team is still working on mitigations to address known issues and asked the EthPandaOps team to hold off on further mainnet stress testing until their work is complete.

• Del Fante also noted that the issues have slowed down his team’s efforts on other priorities, such as their work on Glamsterdam.

Engine API Change for BALs

• EF Protocol Prototyping Team Lead Toni Wahrstatter reported an Engine API change impacting consensus layer (CL) client implementations for EIP 7928, block-level access lists (BALs).

• He asked that CL client teams review the change and incorporate it into their BAL implementations.

Hegota Headliner Selection Process

• EF Protocol Coordination Co-Team Lead and Chair of ACDC Calls, Alex Stokes, reminded call participants that headliner EIP proposals for the Hegota upgrade should be submitted by February 4.

• He also encouraged headliner EIP authors to join one of the ACD calls before February 4 to give an overview of their proposals.

BALs Devnet-2

• EF EthPandaOps Engineer Barnabas Busa asked if CL teams could have their BAL implementations ready for Devnet-2 launch. He noted that the changes should be minimal, only a day’s worth of work, as the EIP is primarily an execution layer (EL) change.

Partial Cell Proofs

• CL client teams are working on a networking change to support further increases to blob capacity.

• No CL team reported a fully working implementation of the change.

• Stokes said that he will reach out to the author of the change or another relevant party to help coordinate ongoing efforts on this pull request (PR).

EIP-7688 Library Changes

• EIP-7688, Forward compatible consensus data structures, is a proposal that developers are strongly considering for inclusion in Glamsterdam. Preliminary work on CL client programming libraries is required to implement EIP-7688.

• Etan Kissling from the Nimbus team said that the Nimbus and Lodestar client teams have completed the preliminary work, while other CL clients are still working to update their libraries.

🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDC #173. Continue reading for pointed takeaways on Ethereum protocol development, featuring direct quotes and additional context on key topics. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:

Subscribe now

🌓 New to the ACD calls and want to learn more about Ethereum protocol development? Explore the ACD Toolkit, which is included with a premium subscription. It contains evergreen resources and materials that teach you the fundamentals of tracking the evolution of Ethereum like a pro:

ACD Toolkit

🌑 I also offer professional consultations on Ethereum protocol development and governance. If you’d like to learn more, please visit my advisory services website:

Protocol Watch

🔎 Insights

(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)

Between a rock and a hard place

The ACD call chairs, all of whom work at the EF, among others, have a strong desire to pin down a timeline for testing ePBS implementations on a multi-client devnet.

The problem is that the people working on ePBS can’t really give them one with strong confidence right now, as they are still in the early stages of feature development.

Read more