EF Protocol Cluster Unveils Unified Tier List for Hegoté Upgrade, Evaluating 62 Ethereum Improvement Proposals

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol cluster has officially published its first-ever unified tier list for the upcoming Hegoté network upgrade. By evaluating 62 distinct Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) proposed for inclusion, the cluster has provided a comprehensive overview of what is expected to ship, what remains on the bubble, and what has been definitively declined.

This release marks a significant milestone for the Ethereum development ecosystem. For the first time, the protocol cluster has published one unified view rather than relying on disparate, per-team opinions. While execution layer clients like Geth will still ship their own standalone tier lists, roughly 60 people across research and engineering teams collaborated closely to incorporate feedback into a single, cohesive document. This collaborative effort serves as a vital datapoint, reflecting the consensus of every team and individual contributor who chose to participate in the assessment process.

The rigorous prioritizations that generated these specific grades are detailed in a companion publication titled EF Protocol: Current and Emerging Priorities. Together, these documents outline the cluster’s overarching north star, strategic roadmap, and the specific delivery commitments that informed every grade assigned to the candidate proposals.

I. How We Tiered

The evaluation process was extensive and decentralized. All nine core development teams, alongside several individual domain experts across the cluster, filled out specialized contribution templates—16 in total. Twelve entities provided tier grades, with several participants choosing to grade only those EIPs where they possessed deep, specialized expertise. This collaborative exercise resulted in 397 individual tier grades cast across the 62 EIPs. On average, each proposal received 6.4 grades, with the most heavily discussed items drawing up to nine independent evaluations.

The methodology was heavily influenced by recent retrospectives on the Glamsterdam upgrade, which yielded critical engineering lessons. Contributors recognized that an EIP’s true scope must be measured by its integration depth, that architectural complexity compounds rapidly, that the available testing surface is an exceptionally scarce resource, and that proposal champions frequently underestimate the true complexity of their ideas. To finalize the list, the cluster conducted half a dozen group calls and a dedicated 90-minute working session to debate contested items.

Under the scoring system, individual contributors tiered each EIP independently using a standardized scale: S represented a grade of 4, A equated to 3, B to 2, C to 1, and D or DFI (Deferred for Inclusion) scored 0. Final averages were calculated using only cast grades, ensuring that abstentions never unfairly penalized a proposal.

Rather than simply averaging the raw scores, the published tier list represents a carefully debated "steelman." It originated from the quantitative grades and was rigorously argued EIP-by-EIP during the working session, resulting in adjustments in both directions. Individual team grades remain unpublished in favor of a unified perspective, though every level of the scoring ladder commits the cluster to strict delivery expectations.

II. The Tier List and Consensus Layer Highlights

The full, interactive visualization of the tier list remains accessible via Forkcast, while the granular breakdown illustrates a clear filtering of priorities. Success in scoping the Hegoté upgrade is defined just as much by the proposals thoughtfully declined as by those selected for delivery.

Within the consensus layer, EIP-7805 (FOCIL) has emerged as an undisputed S-tier headliner, securing a unanimous top score under full participation. FOCIL guarantees any user a reliable path to include an eligible transaction without having to rely on centralized builders, and experts emphasize that it should ship alongside EIP-8369. Positioned firmly in the A-tier, EIP-8369 defines the specific criteria for transaction eligibility under FOCIL and extends its vital inclusion guarantees to Frames.

Other notable A-tier consensus proposals include EIP-8015, which cleanly removes dead deposit and eth1data fields with zero downstream dependencies, and EIP-8365, which initiates the retirement of withdrawal credentials tied to vulnerable cryptography. EIP-8383 introduces a reduction to the consensus layer block retention window, while EIP-8334 focuses on bundled attestation propagation to cut gossip load. EIP-8025 upstreams stateless-execution changes directly into canonical execution specifications, allowing zero-knowledge virtual machine development to align with the core protocol.

Proposals sitting in the B-tier, such as EIP-8146 for block access list sidecars and EIP-8237 for independent consensus and execution layer syncing, carry strong potential but require specific specifications to be ironed out before they can be considered for A-tier promotion. Similarly, EIP-8198 (Quick Slots) enjoyed enthusiastic support from research and development teams, but engineering groups rated it cautiously due to the complex retuning cascade triggered by any adjustment to slot times. Four distinct milestones—ranging from complete specifications to comprehensive ecosystem assessments—must be met before Quick Slots can advance.

A substantial number of consensus-layer proposals were placed into the DFI (Deferred for Inclusion) category. For instance, EIP-7716, which proposes anti-correlation attestation penalties to address validator centralization, was acknowledged as a thoughtful concept but deemed a lower priority for a fork intentionally keeping consensus layer scope light. Other proposals, such as EIP-8142 (Block-in-Blobs) and EIP-8375 (ePBS Mandatory Burn of Execution Rewards), were unanimously deferred due to deeper structural dependencies or because issuance and reward policies belong to broader, separate ecosystem processes.

III. Execution Layer Developments and Future Outlook

On the execution layer side, EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions) stands out as the locked-in S-tier headliner, scoring an impressive average across nine evaluations. Frame Transactions introduce native account abstraction built on security grounds, offering a sustainable path to post-quantum signature schemes without requiring a hard fork for every new scheme, enabling signature aggregation, and providing a definitive route to retiring legacy keys. It is slated to ship alongside EIP-8250 and EIP-8272.

The A-tier features essential cleanup, repricing, and architectural improvements. EIP-3298 removes refunds to eliminate a class of metering edge cases that previous forks struggled with. EIP-5920 introduces the PAY opcode to facilitate value transfers without invoking recipient code, while EIP-8250 and EIP-8272 form the core of the Frames infrastructure by enabling keyed nonces and verifiable recent on-chain state roots. Further security-focused additions like EIP-8279 and EIP-8131 bound worst-case block construction and calldata content costs.

Conversely, numerous execution layer EIPs were categorized under C-tier or deferred outright. EIP-8355, which proposed enshrining specific post-quantum ML-DSA verification precompiles, was viewed as premature standardization prior to dedicated cryptographic adjudication. Other changes, such as EIP-2488 deprecating CALLCODE or EIP-7645 aliasing ORIGIN to SENDER, were deferred or rejected due to app-layer breakage risks or lack of immediate urgency.

Out of the 62 proposals thoroughly evaluated by the EF Protocol cluster, exactly 2 are designated as must-ship headliners, 15 are expected to be integrated, and 28 have been formally declined with transparent, publicly stated reasons. Of the remaining proposals, 8 sit in the B-tier with clear requirements for inclusion, 7 reside in the C-tier below the line, and 2 remain TBD while awaiting empirical mainnet evidence from upcoming upgrades.

To facilitate ongoing dialogue and address community questions, the Protocol cluster will host a dedicated Reddit AMA on r/ethereum. Contributors, researchers, and project champions advocating for non-A-tier or declined proposals are encouraged to submit their questions ahead of time using the community form, ensuring that the development of Ethereum remains open, collaborative, and rigorously debated.