The Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol cluster has published its first-ever unified tier list for the upcoming Hegoté network upgrade. By evaluating 62 proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), the cluster has moved away from fragmented, per-team opinions to present a single, comprehensive view of what changes should make it into the next major hard fork.
While execution-layer client Geth will continue to publish its own standalone tier list, Geth developers joined roughly 60 other researchers and engineers across the Protocol cluster to feed their insights into this unified baseline. The collaborative effort incorporates feedback from every participating team and individual contributor, serving as a vital datapoint for the broader Ethereum ecosystem. The core priorities guiding these grades are detailed in a companion post titled EF Protocol: Current and Emerging Priorities.
I. How We Tiered
The collaborative scoring process involved all nine core development teams and several individual domain experts spread across the EF Protocol cluster. Contributors filled out a total of 16 contribution templates, with 12 providing tier grades. Many contributors chose to grade only those EIPs where they held deep, specialized expertise.
In total, the process yielded 397 individual tier grades across the 62 EIPs, averaging about 6.4 grades per proposal, with the most heavily debated items drawing up to 9 distinct reviews. The cluster heavily relied on lessons learned from retrospectives following the Glamsterdam upgrade. These retrospectives highlighted several operational realities: EIPs should be sized by their integration depth, code complexity compounds rapidly, the available testing surface remains the most scarce resource, and champions frequently underestimate the true complexity of their proposals.
To resolve contested items, the cluster held half a dozen group calls and a rigorous 90-minute working session. Each contributor graded EIPs independently using a standard scale where S equaled 4 points, A equaled 3, B equaled 2, C equaled 1, and D or DFI (Deferred/Declined) equaled 0. Final averages were calculated using only cast grades, meaning abstentions never penalized a proposal.
Rather than blindly averaging the raw numbers, the published tier list represents a steelman argument. It originated from the independent grades but was debated EIP-by-EIP during the working session, resulting in adjustments in both directions. Individual per-team grades have been kept private.
The scoring ladder establishes clear delivery commitments for the cluster. For proposals expected to ship, the accompanying notes highlight their core merits. For items sitting on the bubble, the notes explicitly outline the exact requirements needed to elevate them to a higher tier. For anything placed below the line or declined entirely, the notes focus strictly on the technical and operational concerns.
II. The Tier List
While the complete visual representation of the rankings is hosted externally on Forkcast, the evaluation splits cleanly across consensus and execution layers, separating the headliners from the deferred and declined items.
Consensus Layer Highlights
At the consensus layer, EIP-7805, known as FOCIL, secured an undisputed S-tier rating with a maximum average score of 4 across 7 votes. Serving as the primary consensus-layer headliner, FOCIL provides any user with a direct path to include an eligible transaction without having to rely on centralized builders. The cluster noted that FOCIL achieved a unanimous S-tier rating under full participation and is expected to ship alongside EIP-8369, which defines transaction eligibility and validator verification requirements for Frames.
Several other consensus proposals landed firmly in the A-tier. EIP-8015, which removes dead deposit and eth1data fields with no downstream dependencies, achieved a near-unanimous average of 3.14. EIP-8365 starts the process of retiring withdrawal credentials tied to vulnerable cryptography, earning a solid 3 across 8 votes as the sole post-quantum item deemed suitable for Hegoté. EIP-8383 reduces the consensus-layer block retention window, while EIP-8334 cuts gossip load through bundled attestation propagation. EIP-8025 upstreams stateless-execution changes into canonical execution specs, ensuring zkVM work no longer relies on divergent branches.
Meanwhile, proposals sitting in the B-tier face specific conditional hurdles. EIP-8146 introduces Block Access List Sidecars, with a strong path to A-tier once its observation deadline is fully specified. EIP-8237 explores independent CL/EL sync to roughly halve sync bandwidth, though a simpler non-EIP alternative may ultimately capture the same benefit. EIP-8198, proposing Quick Slots, drew enthusiastic support from research and development teams but received D ratings from delivery engineering teams due to the retuning cascade required for slot-time changes. Four strict requirements have been established before Quick Slots can be reconsidered for an A-tier slot: comprehensive core protocol specifications, a fully implemented prototype, an in-depth ecosystem assessment of downstream effects, and definitive sign-off that it does not complicate decoupled consensus. EIP-8321 proposes a hash-chain RANDAO, but is currently stalled because hardening a single consensus component ahead of a complete post-quantum consensus design risks unnecessary rework.
A large block of consensus proposals was designated as DFI, indicating they have been deferred or declined for the Hegoté upgrade. These include EIP-7716 regarding anti-correlation attestation penalties, which requires broader research regarding its impact on staker decentralization and multi-client setups. Other deferred items include RowDAS (EIP-8371), top-up sync (EIP-8379), balance sunsets for retired BLS validators (EIP-8367), and source-level attestation batching (EIP-8243). Unanimously declined consensus proposals—such as block-in-blobs (EIP-8142), custom sweep withdrawal thresholds (EIP-8148), and mandatory execution reward burning under ePBS (EIP-8375)—failed to meet the strict necessity bar or were deemed to fall outside the scope of a targeted fork upgrade.
Execution Layer Highlights
On the execution layer, EIP-8141 for Frame Transactions emerged as the clear S-tier headliner, securing an average score of 3.89 across 9 votes. Providing native account abstraction on security grounds, Frame Transactions establish a sustainable path to post-quantum signature schemes without requiring a separate hard fork for every new scheme. They also introduce transaction aggregation to properly price post-quantum verification and pave the way for retiring legacy k1 keys. EIP-8141 is slated to ship alongside EIP-8250, which introduces keyed nonces, and EIP-8272, which utilizes recent state roots.
The A-tier features several key improvements to EVM mechanics and repricing. EIP-3298 removes refunds to eliminate metering edge cases that plagued past upgrades. EIP-5920 introduces the PAY opcode, enabling simple value transfers without invoking recipient code. EIP-8279 and EIP-8131 establish security-focused floors for block access lists and transaction content to bound worst-case block construction. Additionally, EIP-7906 introduces transaction assertions via a state diff opcode to help prevent wallet drains and MEV extraction, while EIP-8298 and EIP-8151 form a package to enable code reuse and restrict legacy ecRecover authentication. Despite sitting below the traditional A-tier average with a 1.5 score, EIP-4758 was elevated to the A-tier because engineering teams maintaining the EVM insisted that removing the final SELFDESTRUCT path is essential to eliminate testing hazards for future upgrades.
Proposals lingering in the B-tier include EIP-8253, which bumps the nonces of zero-nonce storage accounts to simplify trie migrations, and EIP-8077, which proposes richer transaction announcements for the mempool once its wire format is formally specified. EIP-7709 and EIP-8374/EIP-8358 focus on history expiry and net gas metering repricing, with their ultimate inclusion depending on smooth devnet sequencing.
Several execution-layer items landed in the C-tier or were declined entirely. EIP-8355 proposes ML-DSA verification precompiles, but was deferred as premature standardization ahead of dedicated cryptographic adjudication. Meanwhile, EIP-8163, which reserves the EXTENSION opcode, was deferred because no committed consumer is ready to ship in this fork. Unanimously declined execution proposals include deprecating CALLCODE (EIP-2488), aliasing ORIGIN to SENDER (EIP-7645), and transitioning to SSZ execution blocks (EIP-7807), all of which were rejected due to application-layer breakage risks or a lack of immediate upgrade urgency. Finally, EIP-8368 and EIP-8372 remain classified as TBD, as their evaluation depends heavily on mainnet data generated by post-Glamsterdam gas repricing.
III. In Closing
Out of the 62 proposals thoroughly evaluated by the EF Protocol cluster, exactly 2 have been classified as must-ship headliners, 15 are expected to make it into the upgrade, and 28 have been formally declined with explicit justifications. Among the remaining proposals, 8 sit in the B-tier with clear conditional requirements for inclusion, 7 reside in the C-tier below the deployment line, and 2 remain TBD pending live mainnet evidence. The cluster emphasizes that the ultimate success of the Hegoté upgrade will depend as much on the rigorous discipline of what is declined as it does on what is ultimately shipped.
Contributors strongly encourage anyone interested in Ethereum’s protocol development to read the companion priority document outlining the cluster’s overarching north star and guiding principles. For those wishing to challenge the panel’s assessments or seek clarification on specific grades, the EF Protocol cluster is hosting a public Reddit AMA on r/ethereum on September 16 at 2:00 PM UTC. Questions can be submitted in advance via the community’s designated submission form, with champions and supporters of non-A-tier or declined proposals warmly invited to join the discussion.
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