Tornado Cash

Ethereum

<p>Ethereum researchers have proposed prioritizing two transaction changes for the 2027 Hegotá upgrade that could let privacy pools pay network fees without third-party intermediaries.</p>
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   <li>Frame Transactions would give wallets more control over transaction validation, execution, and fee payment.</li>
   <li>FOCIL would make it harder for block builders to exclude eligible privacy transactions.</li>
   <li>66 proposals remain under consideration, while FOCIL is the only confirmed Hegotá feature.</li>
   <li>Ethereum developers are targeting 2027 for Hegotá after the Glamsterdam upgrade ships in 2026.</li>
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<p>Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said in an Aug. 17 X post that the Protocol Architecture team wants developers to prioritize Frame Transactions, listed as EIP-8141, and Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, known as FOCIL or EIP-7805.</p>
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   <p>Hegotá is taking shape, and we’ve published the Protocol Architecture team’s view on what should go into the fork:<br><br>Check it out here:<a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://t.co/W1lfX3GZC3">https://t.co/W1lfX3GZC3</a><br><br>The short version: FOCIL is the right headliner, and we think Frame Transactions should join it as the headliner on the…</p>— Toni Wahrstätter ⟠ (@nero_eth) <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/nero_eth/status/2089359381653569744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2026</a>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="ethereum-privacy-pools-could-pay-their-own-fees">Ethereum privacy pools could pay their own fees</h2>
<p>Frame Transactions would introduce a programmable transaction format that gives wallets more control over validation, execution, and gas payments. Wahrstätter described frames as a “much more expressive transaction format” and a key part of Ethereum’s planned transaction experience.</p>
<p>Under the proposal, transaction logic would be divided into programmable frames instead of relying on Ethereum’s current fixed transaction structure. Wallets and applications could use the format for gas sponsorship, alternative signature systems, key rotation, and other forms of account abstraction.</p>
<p>For privacy pools, the fee-payment feature could remove the need for a separate relayer to submit a transaction and pay its gas. Relayers can create another point where transaction details, wallet behavior, or network information may become visible to an outside service.</p>
<p>You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/ethereum-hegota-plan-gets-4-priorities-from-ethlabs/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Ethereum Hegotá plan gets 4 priorities from Ethlabs </a></p>
<p>“Together with Frames, these enable privacy pools where the pool itself can pay fees, removing the need for intermediaries,” Wahrstätter said. “Add FOCIL support, and privacy transactions also gain protocol-level inclusion guarantees.”</p>
<p>Frame Transactions would work with Keyed Nonces and Recent Roots, listed as EIP-8272. Keyed Nonces would let an account maintain separate transaction sequences, while Recent Roots would allow a transaction to refer to a recent Ethereum state without relying on one fixed block reference.</p>
<p>The proposed package also includes Transaction Assertions, or EIP-7906. According to Wahrstätter, assertions would let wallets define conditions that must remain true when a transaction is processed, giving users a way to limit what can happen after they sign and submit it.</p>
<p>Earlier <a href="https://crypto.news/ethereum-hegota-narrows-2027-upgrade-proposals/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">crypto.news coverage found</a> that EIP-8141 remains under consideration rather than scheduled for Hegotá. Ethereum client teams are also comparing it with EIP-8130, another account-abstraction proposal, before deciding which design should move into implementation and testing.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="focil-would-protect-eligible-transactions-from-censorship">FOCIL would protect eligible transactions from censorship</h2>
<p>FOCIL is the only Ethereum Improvement Proposal currently scheduled for Hegotá. The design would allow a committee of validators to publish lists of transactions that block builders are expected to include.</p>
<p>Attesters could reject a proposed block if its builder improperly left out eligible transactions from an inclusion list. Ethereum developers have presented the system as a way to protect transaction access as block production becomes more specialized and concentrated among large builders.</p>
<p>Privacy transactions could benefit because users would not have to depend entirely on a block builder’s willingness to include them. FOCIL would not make transactions private on its own, but it would add a protocol process for resisting selective exclusion.</p>
<p>Wahrstätter has argued that combining FOCIL with Frame Transactions, Keyed Nonces, and Recent Roots would give privacy pools both independent fee payment and stronger inclusion protection. His proposal represents a researcher’s preferred package, not a final decision by Ethereum’s core developers.</p>
<p>Hegotá currently has 66 proposals under discussion, covering account abstraction, censorship resistance, transaction pricing, state growth, validator economics, and network scaling. The number does not mean all 66 features will ship, as most have not entered implementation, development networks, or public testnets.</p>
<p>“A fork can’t be a wishlist by the community or core devs jamming on what Ethereum should eventually become,” Wahrstätter wrote in an earlier post. Developers instead need to decide which changes Ethereum should adopt next and which ones require more time, he added.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="us-scrutiny-has-kept-crypto-privacy-tools-in-focus">US scrutiny has kept crypto privacy tools in focus</h2>
<p>For US users, the proposals concern how Ethereum processes private transactions rather than changing federal rules governing money transmission, sanctions, or illicit finance. American treatment of crypto privacy software has remained contested across Treasury actions and criminal cases involving mixing services.</p>
<p>The US Treasury <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0057" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">removed</a> economic sanctions against Tornado Cash in March 2025 after reviewing the legal and policy questions raised by applying sanctions to technology-based financial activity. Treasury said at the time that it remained concerned about North Korean hackers and other illicit actors using digital assets.</p>
<p>In a separate criminal case, a Manhattan jury convicted Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm in August 2025 of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Jurors did not reach verdicts on the money-laundering and sanctions charges, according to the <a href="https://crypto.news/roman-storm-convicted-in-tornado-cash-case-but-jury-balks-at-key-doj-claims/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported split verdict</a>.</p>
<p>The US Justice Department said Tornado Cash had transmitted more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds, including funds connected to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Storm’s defense maintained that the protocol operated through autonomous open-source software and that its developers did not control individual transactions.</p>
<p>Ethereum’s proposed privacy pool design differs at the protocol level because Wahrstätter’s post deals with fee payment and transaction inclusion, not the legal structure or compliance systems of a specific application. Neither EIP-8141 nor EIP-7805 defines how privacy applications would handle US sanctions screening, money-transmission rules, or other compliance requirements.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="hegot-follows-ethereum-s-2026-glamsterdam-upgrade">Hegotá follows Ethereum’s 2026 Glamsterdam upgrade</h2>
<p>Hegotá is scheduled to follow Glamsterdam, the Ethereum upgrade developers want to release before the end of 2026. A <a href="https://crypto.news/ethereums-glamsterdam-upgrade-puts-layer-1-scaling-back-in-focus/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">June upgrade report</a> said Glamsterdam centers on Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation and Block-Level Access Lists, alongside changes to the way Ethereum prices network resources.</p>
<p>Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation would bring the division between block proposers and builders into Ethereum’s protocol. Block-Level Access Lists would show which accounts and contract data a block needs, allowing clients to prepare data before execution and process some transactions in parallel.</p>
<p>Hegotá candidates extend that work into privacy, censorship resistance, account abstraction, and state management. Scaling proposals under review include EIP-8368, which would adjust state-creation costs if Ethereum raises its gas limit beyond the level used for Glamsterdam.</p>
<p>Developers are also studying separate access-list data, higher gas limits approaching 500 million to 600 million, and optional zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine proofs on the main network. Each proposal must compete for engineering resources, client support, testing time, and space within the 2027 release schedule.</p>
<p>Privacy and quantum resistance also sit inside Ethereum’s multi-year technical plans. A <a href="https://crypto.news/ethereum-lean-rebuild-replace-itself/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">July roadmap analysis</a> reported that Vitalik Buterin’s Lean Ethereum plan calls for new cryptography, proof-based verification, redesigned storage, and native protocol privacy over the next three to four years.</p>
<p>Execution client teams are due to submit their Hegotá preference lists by Sept. 10. Before then, developers plan to compare EIP-8141 with EIP-8130 during an Aug. 25 breakout meeting, with a decision on the competing account-abstraction designs targeted for the Aug. 27 All Core Developers Execution call.</p>
<p>Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/ethereum-price-rises-as-2000-resistance-breakout-nears/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Ethereum price rises as $2,000 resistance breakout nears </a></p>

Ethereum weighs self-funded privacy pools for 2027 upgrade

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