Ethereum Developers Target Privacy Changes in Next Major Upgrade

Ethereum developers are considering changes that could let privacy pools pay their own transaction fees, reducing their reliance on third-party services that can expose wallet activity.

In a post on X on Monday, Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said the Protocol Architecture team wants to prioritize two proposals for Hegotá, the major Ethereum upgrade scheduled for 2027: Frame Transactions (EIP-8141), which would give wallets more control over how transactions are executed, and Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, or FOCIL (EIP-7805), which would make it harder to censor eligible transactions.

“Together with Frames, these enable privacy pools where the pool itself can pay fees, removing the need for intermediaries,” Wahrstätter wrote. “Add FOCIL support and privacy transactions also gain protocol-level inclusion guarantees.”

Frame Transactions would work with Keyed Nonces and Recent Roots (EIP-8272) to let privacy pools pay their own fees without an intermediary. Wahrstätter described frames as a “much more expressive transaction format” and a key building block for Ethereum’s next-generation transaction experience.

The package also includes Transaction Assertions (EIP-7906), which would let wallets set conditions on what a transaction can do after it is submitted.

FOCIL is currently the only proposal confirmed for Hegotá. The Frame Transactions package is among 66 proposals under consideration for the 2027 upgrade.

“A fork can’t be a wishlist by the community or core devs jamming on what Ethereum should eventually become,” Wahrstätter wrote in an earlier post on Saturday. “Instead, we have to decide what Ethereum should become next, and what has to wait.”

The posts come as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has pushed for major changes to the network, including greater privacy, quantum-resistant security, and less reliance on layer-2 networks.

In February, Buterin outlined plans to replace cryptography vulnerable to quantum computers, while Ethereum researchers proposed a roadmap for faster transactions, native privacy, and quantum-resistant security through 2029.

Earlier this month, Buterin said privacy and quantum resistance had become greater priorities for Ethereum, alongside simplifying and scaling the network.

Other proposals under consideration focus on scaling, including changes to how Ethereum prices transactions and state growth as the network’s gas limit rises toward 500 million to 600 million. Developers are also considering separating block-access-list data from the execution payload and testing optional zkEVM proofs on mainnet.

Hegotá will follow Glamsterdam, which developers aim to ship by the end of 2026, with Wahrstätter cautioning that developers “can’t do everything at once and still expect to ship on time.”

“Today, we’re 256 days into Glamsterdam and want to ship it by the end of this year,” Wahrstätter wrote. “Hegotá will need to ship in 2027, and that’s what makes the next few decisions so important.”