Ethereum Targets Censorship Resistance With FOCIL in Hegotá Upgrade

Ethereum researchers have proposed Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL), formally documented as EIP-7805, as the core censorship-resistance mechanism for the upcoming Hegotá network upgrade.

The proposal is currently positioned as a flagship feature for Hegotá, which is expected to land in the second half of 2026, following the Glamsterdam hard fork scheduled for mid-2026.

If adopted, FOCIL would mark a structural shift in how Ethereum enforces transaction inclusion, directly addressing concerns around builder-level censorship in the post-MEV era.

How FOCIL works at the protocol level

FOCIL introduces a per-slot committee of 16 randomly selected validators, each responsible for proposing a list of transactions that must be included in the next block. These inclusion lists are binding unless the block is already completely full, preventing block builders from arbitrarily excluding valid transactions.

Crucially, enforcement does not rely on social coordination or off-chain agreements. Instead, FOCIL is integrated directly into Ethereum’s fork-choice rule. Validators acting as attesters will only vote for blocks that respect the committee’s inclusion lists. Any block that ignores mandatory transactions risks being orphaned, making censorship economically irrational.

This design shifts power away from centralized builders and relays, reinforcing Ethereum’s neutrality guarantees without reverting to less efficient block construction models.

Why FOCIL was deferred to Hegotá

FOCIL was initially discussed as a candidate for the Glamsterdam upgrade but was ultimately deferred due to its complexity and deep interaction with consensus rules. Researchers opted to reserve Glamsterdam for more incremental changes, pushing FOCIL into Hegotá where it could be treated as a headline-level feature.

The formal submission window for Hegotá headliner proposals remains open until February 4, 2026, with final feature selection expected by late February. FOCIL is currently viewed as one of the strongest contenders, particularly given growing concern over transaction censorship risks tied to builder concentration.

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Other major features under consideration

FOCIL is not the only significant proposal being evaluated for Hegotá. Other candidates include:

• Verkle Trees, which would dramatically reduce node storage requirements and enable stateless clients, lowering the barrier to running Ethereum infrastructure.
• State and history expiry, aimed at pruning old blockchain data to address long-term state bloat.
• A potential Ethereum Interoperability Layer (EIL), designed to improve cross-chain coordination and communication between Layer-2 networks.

Together, these proposals reflect a broader shift toward scalability, sustainability, and neutrality at the protocol level.

Structural significance for Ethereum

If implemented, FOCIL would represent Ethereum’s most direct protocol-level response to censorship concerns since the rise of MEV-centric block building. Rather than relying on market incentives alone, it embeds inclusion guarantees into consensus itself.

The proposal underscores a clear priority for the Hegotá cycle: preserving Ethereum’s role as a credibly neutral settlement layer, even as the ecosystem grows more complex and economically competitive. Whether FOCIL is ultimately selected will signal how aggressively the network is willing to hard-code censorship resistance into its core design.

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