Ethereum’s roadmap for 2026 points to a deeper transformation than simple speed tweaks or fee optimizations. Instead of patching symptoms like congestion and high costs, developers are planning changes that alter how the network thinks, verifies, and protects transactions at a fundamental level.
Rather than rolling everything into a single upgrade, Ethereum’s evolution is being split into two distinct protocol milestones, each addressing a different long-term risk facing the network.
Key Takeaways
Ethereum plans two major protocol upgrades in 2026 with different goals.
Glamsterdam targets speed, higher capacity, and more efficient validation.
Heze-Bogota focuses on privacy, decentralization, and censorship resistance.
One of the biggest limitations Ethereum still faces is that most activity is processed sequentially. When demand spikes, transactions queue up, fees rise, and the base layer becomes a bottleneck.
The upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade is designed to break that pattern. Instead of treating blocks as a single pipeline, the network will begin handling multiple transaction paths in parallel. This allows Ethereum to make better use of available resources without sacrificing decentralization.
Alongside this shift, developers are preparing for a dramatic expansion in block capacity. Gas limits are expected to rise several times above current levels, meaning blocks can carry far more activity before congestion kicks in.
Validator behavior is also set to change. Rather than checking every detail of every transaction, validators will increasingly rely on cryptographic proofs to confirm correctness. This reduces computational load while maintaining the same security assumptions that underpin the network.
If these pieces come together, Ethereum could move closer to performance levels once thought possible only on centralized systems.
Privacy and neutrality move to the forefront
Performance, however, is only half of the story. As Ethereum grows more embedded in global finance, developers are becoming increasingly concerned about subtle forms of control creeping into the network.
That concern is at the heart of the Heze-Bogota upgrade. Rather than focusing on speed, this fork aims to harden Ethereum against censorship and excessive reliance on centralized infrastructure.
The goal is to make it more difficult for any single entity – whether a validator cluster, infrastructure provider, or government actor – to influence which transactions are processed. Privacy improvements play a key role here, limiting how much transactional information can be exploited without undermining transparency or auditability.
Developers see this as essential if Ethereum is to remain a neutral settlement layer rather than drift toward a permissioned system by default.
Fixing the base layer, not replacing it
Ethereum already dominates areas like stablecoins, decentralized finance, and tokenized assets, but its base layer has increasingly been treated as a coordination layer for rollups rather than a place for heavy activity.
The 2026 plan suggests a recalibration. Instead of relying almost entirely on layer-2 networks to absorb growth, Ethereum is reinforcing its core so it can shoulder more responsibility directly.
This does not replace rollups, but it changes the balance between layers, potentially lowering costs and complexity across the ecosystem.
