The Ethereum Foundation’s protocol priorities lay out three tracks—Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1—positioned as a phased engineering plan to expand throughput while strengthening the protocol’s security posture.
The Foundation argues that higher gas capacity plus continued blob scaling should reduce transaction friction and lift Layer-2 throughput, assuming client performance remains stable under staged upgrades.
Scale: Gas limits, execution upgrades, and data availability
The roadmap groups work into coordinated tracks spanning consensus, execution, and data availability to keep delivery sequencing aligned.
In the Scale track, engineers plan to keep raising the block gas limit after the late-2025 jump to roughly 60 million gas, with a trajectory toward and beyond 100 million subject to benchmarking.
Community discussions referenced alongside the plan cite 180 million to 200 million as possible ceilings by year-end, but the text frames those figures as conditional on client testing and a risk-managed rollout.
The Scale plan names Block-Level Access Lists (EIP-7928), enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation via EIP-7732, and parallel execution as core mechanisms. Parallel execution is tied to Glamsterdam, targeted for H1 2026, with Hegotá positioned later in 2026 as the next delivery window for continued scaling.
Improve UX and Harden the L1: Account abstraction and quantum readiness
The Improve UX track prioritizes native account abstraction and interoperability work intended to make smart-contract wallets the default experience and shorten Layer-2 settlement times.
The Harden the L1 track elevates security into a dedicated workstream, including post-quantum readiness backed by a stated $2,000,000 commitment and transition planning started in 2025.
From a market-structure lens, the Foundation frames higher base-layer throughput and lower fees as a form of supply elasticity that can improve stablecoin settlement and DeFi execution efficiency—particularly relevant for institutional flows.
The roadmap’s risk posture stays conservative: gas-limit increases are gated by extensive client benchmarking and phased deployment to avoid destabilizing the network.
If Glamsterdam and Hegotá land on schedule and benchmarks validate higher limits, the plan implies meaningful fee compression and greater L2 capacity; if not, transaction friction and settlement premiums should persist.