Hegota is a planned major network upgrade, or hard fork, for the Ethereum blockchain scheduled for the latter half of 2026. As the designated successor to the Glamsterdam upgrade, Hegota represents a key part of Ethereum's accelerated development roadmap, which prioritizes more frequent and incremental protocol updates. The upgrade's primary objectives are to advance Ethereum's scalability, improve network decentralization by lowering barriers to entry for node operators, and address the long-term challenge of state size growth. While the final scope of the upgrade is subject to a formal selection process in early 2026, initial discussions have centered on the implementation of Verkle trees as a headline feature. ^{[1] [2] [3]}​

Background and Roadmap

The Hegota upgrade is a product of a strategic shift in Ethereum's core development philosophy that emerged in 2025. This new approach favors a faster cadence of network upgrades, aiming for approximately two hard forks per year. This strategy was adopted in part as a response to criticism from some community members and builders in early 2025 who argued that the pace of protocol development was too slow to meet the network's growing demands. By shipping smaller, more focused updates more frequently, developers aim to introduce improvements in a more predictable and manageable manner, rather than bundling numerous complex changes into large, less frequent releases. ^{[1] [4]}​

Hegota follows a series of upgrades designed to enhance Ethereum's capabilities. It comes after the Fusaka upgrade, which successfully implemented PeerDAS, and the Glamsterdam upgrade, which is planned for the first half of 2026. The major features slated for Glamsterdam include Block-level Access Lists and enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS). Any complex features that are not ready in time for Glamsterdam are considered strong candidates for inclusion in Hegota. ^{[5] [4]}​

In a December 22, 2025 blog post, the Ethereum Foundation contextualized the roadmap leading to Hegota:

“Fusaka shipped PeerDAS in addition to a myriad of minor features and Glamsterdam’s major features will include Block-level Access Lists and enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation. Now we begin outlining the subsequent upgrade: Hegota.” ^{[5] [1]}

Naming Convention

The name "Hegota" continues the established naming convention for Ethereum network upgrades, which combines a name for the Execution Layer (EL) update with a name for the Consensus Layer (CL) update. The name was officially agreed upon by core developers during the final All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call of 2025. ^[6]

The components of the name are:

• Bogota: The name for the Execution Layer upgrade, chosen in honor of Bogotá, Colombia, the host city for the Devcon VI developer conference. ^{[1] [4]}
• Heze: The name for the Consensus Layer upgrade, named after a star. ^{[1] [6]}

The two names are merged to create the portmanteau Hegota (Heze + Bogota) for the combined network hard fork. ^[1]

Development and Scoping Process

The process for determining the contents of the Hegota upgrade is coordinated through a meta Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP-8081. This EIP does not introduce any protocol changes itself but serves as a central tracking issue and master list for all EIPs being considered for or scheduled for inclusion in the hard fork. ^{[7] [2]}​

On December 3, 2025, Ethereum Foundation researcher Alex Stokes proposed a formal scoping process on the Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians forum. This structured approach was designed to provide clarity and incorporate lessons from previous upgrades. The process aims to define a clear "fork focus" by prioritizing the selection of one or more major features before considering smaller additions. Community member Andrew Coathup suggested potential focus areas could include Layer 1 or Layer 2 scaling, user experience (UX), developer experience (DX), or decentralization. ^[7]​

Headliner and Non-Headliner EIPs

The selection process distinguishes between two categories of proposals:

• Headliners: These are the major, defining features of the upgrade that address its primary objective. Champions of headliner EIPs must submit their proposals on the Ethereum Magicians forum using a specific template. This template requires a plain-language summary, detailed justification, analysis of stakeholder impacts, and an assessment of technical readiness and security risks. ^[7]
• Non-Headliners: These are smaller improvements or minor features. A submission window for non-headliner EIPs opens for 30 days only after the headliner features have been finalized by the All Core Developers. A rule was also established stating that an EIP proposed as a headliner but not selected cannot be re-proposed as a non-headliner for the same upgrade. ^{[5] [7]}

Scoping Timeline

The timeline for defining Hegota's scope was formally announced in late 2025. Given the current date of January 26, 2026, the process is actively underway. ^[5]​

• December 3, 2025: Ethereum Foundation researcher Alex Stokes posted the proposed scoping timeline on the Ethereum Magicians forum.
• December 22, 2025: The Ethereum Foundation's Protocol Support team published a blog post formally outlining the timeline for the Hegota upgrade's proposal and selection process.
• January 8 – February 4, 2026: The submission window for "headliner" EIP proposals is open. To be considered, proposals must be submitted to the Ethereum Magicians forum and presented during an All Core Devs call within this period.
• February 5 – February 26, 2026: A period is scheduled for All Core Devs teams to discuss, evaluate, and finalize the headliner feature(s) for the upgrade.
• Post-February 26, 2026: Following the selection of the headliner(s), a 30-day window will open for the submission of "non-headliner" EIP proposals.

The timeline for discussion and finalization is subject to change based on the progress of developer consensus. ^{[5] [7]}​

Goals and Potential Features

The primary goals of the Hegota upgrade are to enhance Ethereum's scalability, strengthen its decentralization, and implement a long-term solution for managing the growth of blockchain state, often referred to as "state bloat." While no EIPs were formally confirmed for inclusion as of January 2026, discussions among core developers and the community have highlighted several key proposals and areas of interest. ^{[3] [4]}

Verkle Trees

The leading candidate for Hegota's headline feature is the introduction of Verkle trees. Verkle trees are a novel data structure that is significantly more efficient for producing proofs of data than the Merkle Patricia trees currently used by Ethereum. Their implementation would allow Ethereum nodes to store and mathematically verify large amounts of state data using much smaller "proofs." ^{[1] [4]}

The main benefits of implementing Verkle trees are:

• Reduced Hardware Requirements: They would dramatically lower the hardware requirements, especially disk space, needed to operate a full node. This is a crucial step toward enabling "stateless clients," which can verify the chain without storing the entire state. ^{[3] [4]}
• Improved Decentralization: By making it cheaper and easier for more individuals to run full nodes, Verkle trees aim to enhance the network's decentralization, resilience, and security. ^[1]

State and History Management

Another major area of focus for Hegota is the implementation of mechanisms for state and history expiration. This concept involves allowing older, less frequently accessed state and historical data on the blockchain to be pruned from the active set that full nodes must maintain. This directly addresses the problem of state bloat, which poses a long-term challenge to scalability by making it increasingly difficult for new nodes to join and sync with the network. ^{[3] [6] [4]}

Other Potential Inclusions

Several other EIPs and concepts are considered potential candidates for the Hegota upgrade, many of which may be deferred from the preceding Glamsterdam upgrade if they are not ready in time. ^[1]

• Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS): This is a protocol-level change to formalize the separation of roles between block proposers (validators who select blocks) and block builders (sophisticated entities that construct blocks). The goal is to mitigate centralization risks by preventing a concentration of power among a few large block builders. While ePBS is a major feature of Glamsterdam, any complexities could push its implementation to Hegota. ^{[3] [4]}
• FOCIL: This proposal is already listed in the "Considered for Inclusion" section of the Hegota Meta EIP (EIP-8081). It was previously considered for the Glamsterdam upgrade but was deferred due to a "scope-reduction decision," indicating it remains a priority for developers. ^[5]
• Execution Layer Optimizations: General improvements to the efficiency of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and other aspects of the execution layer are often included in network upgrades and may be part of Hegota. This could include adjustments to gas costs for various operations. ^{[6] [4]}