Ethereum 2026: The Triad of Scale, UX, and Resilience

1. 2025 in Retrospect: The Year of Aggressive Expansion

At Base58 Labs, we have closely monitored the Ethereum network’s extraordinary execution physics over the past year. 2025 will be remembered as the year of aggressive, systemic expansion.

We witnessed the successful deployment of two major hard forks: Pectra in May and Fusaka in December. These were not mere maintenance updates. The introduction of EIP-7702 empowered all EOAs (Externally Owned Accounts) with smart contract execution capabilities, while PeerDAS dramatically altered the data availability landscape, slashing L2 costs to near-zero by increasing blob capacity eightfold.

Perhaps the most impressive feat of engineering was the network's resilience. Despite doubling the gas limit from 30M to 60M and introducing complex history expiry mechanics, the mainnet maintained absolute stability. If 2025 was about proving Ethereum's capacity for expansion, 2026 is about hardening that massive infrastructure into a mature, sustainable global settlement layer.

Today, the Ethereum Foundation announced a strategic realignment of its protocol priorities for 2026 to achieve this exact vision.

2. The 2026 Strategic Realignment: Three Core Tracks

From our analytical perspective at Base58 Labs, the core theme of this roadmap is "focused specialization." The historically broad R&D initiatives have been distilled into three specialized tracks. This signals a shift from an experimental platform to a mission-critical financial infrastructure.

Track 1: Scale (Sustaining the Expansion)

Leads: Ansgar, Marius, Raúl

Scaling remains a priority, but the methodology is becoming more structural. Moving beyond simple block size increases, 2026 focuses on architectural scaling.

• The 100M+ Gas Target: We are approaching a horizon where the mainnet will comfortably process over 100 million gas per block.

• ePBS (enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation): Decoupling block proposers from builders at the protocol level is crucial for maintaining decentralization while scaling.

• zkEVM Attesters & State Scaling: Laying the groundwork for L1 verification to transition fully to Zero-Knowledge proofs a necessary step toward Ethereum's ultimate endgame.

Track 2: Improve UX (Redefining Interaction)

Leads: Barnabé, Matt

Technological superiority means nothing without seamless adoption. This track aims to abstract away the frictional complexities of the Ethereum protocol.

• Native Account Abstraction (Native AA): EIP-7702 was just the prologue. The ultimate goal is Native AA enabling smart contract wallets directly within the protocol without relying on fragile, off-chain bundlers or relayers.

• L2 Interoperability: Establishing standards to unify fragmented L2 liquidity and create a cohesive user experience across rollups.

• Post-Quantum Readiness (UX): Designing the transition to quantum-resistant cryptography in a way that minimizes disruption for end-users.

Track 3: Harden the L1 (The Fortress Protocol)

Leads: Fredrik, Pari, Thomas

This is the track Base58 Labs is monitoring most closely. For Ethereum to serve as the immutable base layer of global finance, it requires absolute resilience against both computational threats and censorship.

• Security & Post-Quantum: The long-term project to replace L1 cryptographic signatures against the looming threat of quantum computing is now a formalized priority.

• Censorship Resistance (FOCIL): Implementing protocol-level mechanisms to prevent a minority of powerful builders from censoring individual transactions.

• Network Resilience & Test Infra: Ensuring client diversity and robust testing environments so the network remains unstoppable under extreme stress.

3. Looking Ahead: The Road to Glamsterdam

Ethereum steers like a supertanker it takes time to shift direction, but once the course is set, its momentum is unstoppable.

The upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade scheduled for H1 2026, followed by Hegotá in H2 2026, will serve as the premier testing grounds for the deliverables from these three tracks. Base58 Labs will continue to dissect the protocol mechanics, gas dynamics, and market implications as Ethereum evolves from a 'World Computer' into a hardened, frictionless, and infinitely scalable 'Global Settlement Layer'.

Reference: Ethereum Foundation Blog: Protocol Priorities Update 2026