On February 20, 2026, the Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, outlined his vision of a new Ethereum plan to build what he calls a “cypherpunk principled non-ugly Ethereum” – not as a replacement chain, but as a tightly integrated evolution of what already exists. It sounds ambitious. And it is.
The Ethereum Plan
For years, Ethereum leaned hard on a rollup-centric approach. The idea was simple: offload heavy transaction traffic onto Layer 2 networks, keep the base layer clean. That Ethereum plan worked, to a point. But it also created fragmentation problems that became impossible to ignore.
Buterin now wants to flip the script. His new Ethereum plan focuses on building cypherpunk values directly into the base layer – things like stronger censorship resistance, zero-knowledge proof compatibility, and cleaner consensus mechanics. He describes it as a “bolt-on” to the existing system, not a restart.
“Ethereum has already made jet engine changes in-flight once (the merge), we can do it ~4 times more,” Buterin wrote on X.
That kind of confidence is hard to ignore, especially coming from someone who delivered on the Merge.
Also Read: Is Vitalik Killing L2s While Dumping ETH?
FOCIL: The Controversial Piece of This Ethereum Plan
The technical centerpiece of this Ethereum plan is FOCIL – Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (EIP-7805). Ethereum developers officially scheduled FOCIL for the upcoming Hegota hard fork, targeted for late 2026.
FOCIL’s job is straightforward: stop validators from silently ignoring valid transactions. It does this by randomly selecting 17 actors per block slot. If a proposed block skips legitimate mempool transactions, the chain can fork to include them within one to two slots.
That sounds great for users. But critics have flagged potential legal risks for validators and raised concerns about added protocol complexity. FOCIL was previously left out of the Glamsterdam upgrade for exactly these reasons.
Still, Buterin is pushing it through. And for good reason, paired with EIP-8141 (account abstraction), FOCIL creates a system where smart wallets, privacy protocols, and gas-sponsored transactions can broadcast directly through the public mempool. No wrappers. No intermediaries.
Also Read: Vitalik Proposes Anonymous Voting to Secure Ethereum DAO Governance
What This Means for the L2 Ecosystem?
For years, the L2 ecosystem was Ethereum’s growth engine. Networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base absorbed the bulk of transaction volume. But that setup also splintered liquidity, complicated bridging, and created a messy user experience across the L2 ecosystem.
Buterin’s base-layer push does not kill the L2 ecosystem outright. Rollups still play a role. But the goalposts are shifting. If L1 becomes faster, more censorship-resistant, and more privacy-friendly at the protocol level, the value proposition for some parts of the L2 ecosystem gets thinner.
The L2 ecosystem built its identity around being the execution layer Ethereum could not be. Now Ethereum is trying to become that itself.
Whether every project across the L2 ecosystem can adapt quickly enough is an open question.
A Five-Year Runway, Accelerated by AI
Buterin estimates roughly five years for the new bolt-on layer to mature — though he believes AI-assisted coding and verification could speed that up significantly. The long-term vision includes migrating the old system into smart contracts on the upgraded framework.
Long-term structural changes include embedding zero-knowledge proofs into L1 validation through something called the “Beam Chain.” Combined with RISC-V exploration for the execution layer, this is a genuine architectural overhaul – not a PR rebrand.
Also Read: Is Ethereum in Danger? Vitalik Warns Quantum Computers Could Break ECC by 2028
What is Vitalik’s new Ethereum plan about?
It focuses on building cypherpunk values – censorship resistance, ZK compatibility, and simpler consensus – directly into Ethereum’s base layer as a “bolt-on” upgrade.
What is FOCIL and why does it matter?
FOCIL (EIP-7805) forces validators to include valid transactions. It prevents hostile actors from silently censoring transactions and is scheduled for the Hegota hard fork in late 2026.
Does this plan replace the L2 ecosystem?
Not immediately. Rollups still matter. But the base layer is being strengthened significantly, which could reduce dependency on some L2 solutions over time.
When will these changes happen?
The Hegota hard fork is targeted for late 2026. Buterin’s broader vision has a five-year timeline, potentially shortened with AI assistance.
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