Ethereum has begun to shed light on its 2026 development cycle. The core protocol developers have officially named the update that will follow Glamsterdam as “Hegota“, confirming the steady pace of two hard forks per year. The name combines Bogota on the execution layer side, following the tradition of Devcon host cities, and Heze on the consensus side, named after a star.
The decision was made during the last All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call of the year. Technical discussions will resume in early January with a primary goal: finalizing the scope of Glamsterdam, the first major update scheduled for 2026. Hegota, on the other hand, is still at a very early stage. The flagship EIP has not yet been selected and will not be until February.
A Clearer 2026 Schedule for Ethereum
With Pectra and Fusaka deployed in 2025, Ethereum has now shifted to a more iterative model. Gone are the rare and sprawling hard forks. The protocol now progresses through more frequent, predictable, and targeted increments. In this framework, Glamsterdam is expected to arrive in the first half of 2026, with Hegota logically taking the reins in the second half of the year.
This segmentation also allows for better prioritization. Features that are too ambitious or not mature enough for Glamsterdam can be pushed to Hegota without blocking the entire schedule. It’s a pragmatic approach designed to reduce operational risks while accelerating innovation.
Verkle Trees and Statelessness in Focus
Although nothing is set in stone yet, Hegota is already associated with several key projects on the Ethereum roadmap. Verkle Trees top the list. This technology is a crucial requirement for stateless clients, capable of operating without storing the entire state of the network. Integrating them could significantly reduce node storage requirements and lower entry barriers for validators.
Other topics are also being discussed, such as state and transaction history expiry mechanisms, or additional execution layer optimizations. These discussions gain importance after recent warnings from the Ethereum Foundation about the continuous growth of the state, becoming an increasing burden for node operators.
Glamsterdam, Still a Dense Project
Meanwhile, work on Glamsterdam continues. Among the proposals still under debate are the implementation of an “embedded proposer-builder separation” (ePBS) to limit block building centralization, as well as block-level access lists to reduce bottlenecks related to state access. Gas adjustments are also being considered to better align EVM costs with actual resource usage.
Some heavier ideas, like reducing slot time, have already been postponed to potential future cycles, possibly towards Hegota.
Hegota Aligns with Ethereum’s Long-Term Vision
Beyond 2026, Hegota fits into Ethereum’s grand technical narrative. After The Merge and The Surge focused on scaling through rollups, the protocol is progressing towards The Verge, centered on statelessness and light clients. Subsequent phases, The Purge and The Splurge, will target history cleaning and long-term simplification.
The choice of the name Hegota may seem trivial, yet it signifies something crucial: Ethereum now advances methodically, with rhythm and visibility. For a network with stakes in the hundreds of billions of dollars, it may be the most structuring evolution of all.
