Ethereum Developers Target ’Hegota’ as Next Major 2026 Upgrade

Ethereum's roadmap just got a new destination—and it's arriving in 2026. Core developers are now setting their sights on 'Hegota,' the next major network upgrade poised to follow the anticipated 'Prague' hard fork.

What We Know About Hegota

Details remain tightly held, but the name itself—a nod to the Japanese term for 'steps forward'—signals a focus on foundational progress. This isn't about flashy new features for the marketing deck. It's about the unglamorous, critical work of scaling and stability that keeps the network running when the next bull run hits.

The 2026 Timeline

Placing Hegota in 2026 creates a clear, multi-year cadence for Ethereum's evolution. It tells the market that innovation is scheduled, not speculative. For institutional players eyeing the asset, this kind of predictable, long-term engineering roadmap is catnip—it almost makes blockchain development look like a real business with a product pipeline.

Why This Matters Now

Announcing the next upgrade before the current one is even finalized is a power move. It projects confidence and long-term vision at a time when other chains are scrambling for quarterly hype cycles. Ethereum is playing chess on a calendar-year board, while much of the sector is stuck playing checkers.

The upgrade path from Prague to Hegota will likely focus on the continued integration of Verkle trees for stateless clients and further optimizations to rollup infrastructure. In plain English? Making Ethereum cheaper and faster for everyone, not just the whales who can afford today's gas fees.

One cynical finance jab: Let's see if the 'Hegota' upgrade can finally process a transaction for less than the GDP of a small island nation. Progress is great, but the real upgrade will be when using the network doesn't require a second mortgage.

For now, mark 'Hegota' on your 2026 crypto calendar. It's the next big step in proving whether the world's leading smart contract platform can actually scale to become the world's computer—or just remains the world's most expensive digital ledger.

Key Decisions Ahead For Ethereum’s Hegota Fork

Hegota aligns with Ethereum’s newly established upgrade schedule, which aims to facilitate smoother, incremental updates twice a year. 

Hegota is distinctive as it effectively merges two critical components of Ethereum’s architecture: the execution layer, known as “Bogota,” and the consensus LAYER called “Heze.” 

A pivotal decision for the Hegota update is selecting the key feature that will take center stage. Developers are expected to make this choice in early 2026, and front-runners such as Verkle Trees and state/history expiry are currently under consideration. 

While these terms may seem technical, they focus on a pressing issue: Ethereum’s data storage is becoming excessively large and resource-intensive.

The continuous influx of transactions, non-fungible token (NFT) mints, decentralized finance (DeFi) trades, and memecoins has contributed to Ethereum’s “state,” which is the live database maintained by nodes. 

During a recent call discussing the urgency for Hegota, the need for action became clear. As ETH approaches its target of 180 million gas by late 2026, the current Merkle Patricia tree structure will struggle to support the network’s demands. 

The Path Forward

The integration of Verkle Trees is not merely a desirable enhancement; it is essential for maintaining viable solo staking as Ethereum’s throughput is expected to triple.

The implementation of Verkle Trees and mechanisms for state/history expiry aim to compress or archive older data, preventing the city hall from collapsing under the weight of paperwork. 

Reports suggest that if developers can execute these changes effectively, Ethereum will become more streamlined and better suited for an influx of new users in DeFi, NFTs, and gaming applications.

Following Glamsterdam, which will address features such as proposer-builder separation (ePBS), access lists, and gas repricing, Hegota will further refine Ethereum’s data storage systems instead of starting the fee structure from scratch. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com