Ethereum’s core protocol teams have begun shaping the next major network upgrade, Hegotá, while setting a firm long-range goal: a Layer 1 that can withstand quantum computers by the end of 2029. The Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol cluster published its first unified assessment of the work ahead, treating that date as a planning deadline rather than a distant research theme.
The cluster reviewed 62 proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) with input from about 60 researchers and engineers across nine teams.
Two items received the highest “must-ship” status and now define Hegotá’s core.
On the consensus side, Fork-choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL, EIP-7805) would let groups of validators require that certain valid transactions appear in a block.
The change is meant to reduce reliance on a small set of block builders and strengthen censorship resistance.
On the execution side, Frame Transactions (EIP-8141) would make account abstraction a native protocol feature.
Accounts could define their own validation rules, gas payment methods, and signature schemes, giving users a path to post-quantum keys without waiting for a single network-wide swap.
Hegotá itself is not the quantum-resistance upgrade.
Foundation coordinators describe it as the fork that determines whether later quantum-focused work can stay on schedule.
Client teams are expected to start implementation in late 2026, after Glamsterdam reaches mainnet.
Reaching full post-quantum coverage across execution, consensus, and data layers by December 2029 would require a demanding cadence of roughly seven months between subsequent forks.
A fallback “minimum viable” post-quantum milestone is also under design in case the timeline slips.
The 2029 target was chosen to match independent migration plans announced by Google, Cloudflare, and Microsoft.
Officials note that no one can predict “Q-day,” the moment a cryptographically relevant quantum computer arrives.
Most published estimates place that event later than 2030, and some suggest it may never arrive.
The Foundation nevertheless treats an early-2030 scenario as a conservative planning assumption and says it will keep the deadline fixed at least until an expert review in January 2027.
Quantum work sits alongside four other multi-year research tracks: faster finality, protocol-level privacy, sustainable state growth, and zkEVM proofs that would eventually let validators check succinct proofs instead of re-executing every block.
Privacy features and cryptographic agility are expected to begin appearing in Hegotá so later forks can focus on scale.
Consensus-layer cryptography, by contrast, will change only after designs are fully specified, because those schemes cannot be swapped account by account.
The scoping process also imposed tight limits.
Extra consensus-layer features are discouraged unless they directly support the post-quantum path, because the same engineers will soon need to specify decoupled consensus and later quantum components.
Of the 62 proposals graded, two are mandatory, about 15 are expected to ship, and 28 were declined for this fork. The message from the Protocol cluster is that Ethereum intends to remain usable for decades. Hegotá is the first practical test of whether that intention can be turned into a realistic delivery schedule.