Ethereum Foundation researcher Thomas Thierry proposed making the FOCIL mechanism (EIP-7805) a key component of the Hegota upgrade. This upgrade aims to enhance the network's resilience against censorship.
Thierry is part of the Robust Incentives Group. He stated that currently, the blockchain lacks guarantees to protect against transaction filtering at the protocol level.
How It Works
FOCIL (Fork Choice-enforced Inclusion Lists) allows validators to forcibly include operations in the distributed ledger. This limits the power of centralized "builders" and relayers who may delay or ignore user transactions.
The proposal addresses the issue of market builder centralization caused by MEV extraction. Researchers believe that resilience to censorship should be ensured technically, rather than relying on the integrity of market participants.
Without FOCIL, the protocol remains vulnerable to mass censorship. Thierry noted that while dominant builders rarely censor transactions now, the situation could change in an instant.
"Ethereum needs to be designed for decades of resilience. We must prevent censorship proactively, rather than reactively," the developer emphasized.
Challenges of Implementation
Implementing the mechanism will require additional technical solutions. The current version of FOCIL does not support transactions with BLOBs and private MEV transfers.
Previously, the proposal was considered for the hard fork Glamsterdam, but it was postponed. The Hegota upgrade is scheduled in the roadmap for 2026.
As a reminder, in January, amid low fees, activity on the Ethereum mainnet surpassed that of layer-2 solutions.