Key Notes
- Ethereum developers are considering FOCIL as a core feature of the Hegota upgrade to limit transaction censorship.
- The proposal distributes transaction-inclusion power among validators rather than centralized builders.
- Researchers say the move will protect Ethereum against future large-scale filtering risks.
Ethereum developers are moving closer to setting the direction for the Hegota upgrade, with a new proposal aimed at protecting open access to transactions. The plan focuses on limiting censorship risks as concerns grow around block builder control.
Ethereum Researchers Push Censorship Protection Plan
Ethereum researchers are backing a proposal known as Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, or FOCIL, as a main feature of the Hegota upgrade. The idea is simple in goal but complex in design. It seeks to make sure valid transactions are added to the blockchain within a fixed time, even if some builders attempt to delay or block them.
The proposal was first considered for the earlier Glamsterdam upgrade but was delayed. It is now being promoted as a central part of Hegota, which is planned as the next major step in Ethereum’s roadmap. The effort is led by Ethereum Foundation researcher Thomas Thiery, also known as soispoke, who focuses on network fairness and block production risks.
FOCIL would allow multiple validators to take part in enforcing transaction inclusion. This spreads responsibility instead of leaving it in the hands of a small number of large builders or relays. Researchers say this matters as the builder market becomes more concentrated due to MEV activity and specialized infrastructure.
In related news, Mantle said it will move from EigenDA to Ethereum-native blobs. It will use Fusaka’s expanded blob capacity as it moves closer to full ZK rollup status.
Ethereum Upgrade Faces Tradeoffs and Open Questions
While the proposal aims to protect Ethereum from large-scale censorship, it comes with limits. FOCIL would add more rules to the protocol and does not yet support blob transactions or private MEV-based transfers. These gaps would need to be handled in future upgrades.
Supporters argue that waiting for censorship to become a real crisis would be risky. Even if few transactions are filtered today, they say conditions can change fast. Hegota is designed to put technical guarantees into the system rather than relying on outside market behavior.
If adopted, the upgrade would allow validators to help protect transaction access without giving up rewards. For users and developers, it would offer stronger assurance that activity on Ethereum cannot be quietly blocked as the network continues to grow.
In a separate update, BitMine Immersion Technologies recently made its largest Ethereum purchase in 2026. The firm acquired 40,302 ETH and raised its total holdings to 4.24 million tokens worth $12.05 billion.
