Ethereum Foundation rates 62 Hegotá proposals, targets quantum‑resistant L1 by end‑2029

The Ethereum Foundation released a tier‑list evaluating 62 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) slated for the upcoming Hegotá network upgrade. The assessment gathered 397 individual ratings from roughly 60 researchers, engineers and specialists spread across nine Protocol Cluster teams.

Hegotá proposal ratings

The "Hegotá EIP Opinion Post and Tier List" records how Protocol Cluster members view each proposal, covering technical benefits, development costs and potential conflicts. While the list does not guarantee inclusion on mainnet, it provides a shared reference for client developers, researchers and the broader community as they decide which changes can be built and tested within the Hegotá schedule.

Upgrade timeline

Ethereum’s public roadmap places the Hegotá upgrade in 2027, following the Glamsterdam upgrade scheduled for Q4 2026. The roadmap remains flexible, requiring implementation work, testnet validation and client coordination before any mainnet activation.

Quantum‑resistance commitment

In a second article titled "Current and Emerging Priorities," the Protocol Cluster set a deadline of December 2029 to make Ethereum’s Layer 1 resistant to attacks from quantum computers. Fredrik Svantes, who leads protocol coordination at the Foundation, described the target as an "aggressively" pursued goal.

Ethereum’s current account and validator cryptography (BLS signatures) could be vulnerable to future quantum machines, though existing hardware is far from capable of such attacks. Research is divided across multiple components—user accounts, validator signatures, consensus, data availability and zero‑knowledge proof systems—each with distinct performance and migration considerations.

Early experiments include a smart‑contract‑based post‑quantum protection for user accounts using SPHINCS signatures, costing roughly $0.07 per account. A separate draft proposes a validator deposit contract that can accept variable‑length public keys and identifiers for different signature schemes, preserving existing BLS deposits while allowing future post‑quantum algorithms.

Link to broader roadmap

Native account abstraction, a recurring theme in Hegotá discussions, could facilitate the quantum‑security plan by enabling accounts to adopt alternative authorization methods. The roadmap also mentions privacy tools, scaling improvements and AI‑assisted formal verification, though Hegotá will not implement every item in a single fork.

Regulatory context

The United States’ National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has approved post‑quantum cryptographic standards (FIPS 203, 204, 205) and recommends organizations begin transitioning away from vulnerable algorithms. While Ethereum’s 2029 deadline does not create a regulatory requirement for U.S. market participants, it aligns with the broader federal timeline for post‑quantum migration.

Community engagement

The Foundation will host a Reddit AMA on September 16 at 14:00 UTC in r/ethereum to discuss the Hegotá ratings, disputed proposals and the long‑term priorities outlined in the two articles.