I noticed that many people do not truly understand what Ethereum is trying to accomplish with the upcoming Hegota upgrade. It’s much deeper than just ordinary technical improvements. In fact, this is an upgrade related to something fundamental: who really controls what can enter the blockchain?

Currently, very few block creators control most of the transaction ordering on Ethereum. This creates a real bottleneck. If one of them decides to exclude a transaction—perhaps for regulatory reasons or even competitive reasons—that transaction can be significantly delayed. This has already happened with Tornado Cash when some validators started rejecting transactions related to it.

This is where EIP-7805, also known as FOCIL, comes into play. This mechanism will be a game-changer. Instead of having a single block proposer hold the final say, a committee of randomly selected validators will create a “whitelist” of transactions. If the block proposer tries to ignore this list, the network will consider that block invalid and will choose a different chain path.

What’s really exciting about EIP-7805 is that it doesn’t rely solely on ignore-able whitelists. This time, the mechanism is directly implemented through the fork selection itself. Every time window (about 12 seconds), the protocol will select several parties—up to 17 according to the latest developer discussions—to contribute to the whitelist. Even if several parties are disconnected or choose censorship, a single honest participant is enough to force the transaction into the block.

Vitalik Buterin pointed out that FOCIL doesn’t operate in isolation from the rest. This mechanism is designed to work with EIP-8141 and other improvements. Together, these upgrades will enable better support for privacy protocols, account abstraction, and even facilitate transactions where another party pays the fees—all while maintaining guarantees of inclusion.

But honestly, there’s real controversy around all this. On one hand, supporters say Ethereum should be neutral like the core internet protocols. If transactions can be blocked at the protocol level, the network loses its fundamental value as an permissionless system. On the other hand, some legal experts worry that FOCIL could put validators in a very difficult position. Imagine a validator in the United States being forced to process a transaction related to an address under sanctions—that could create serious legal issues.

For the average user, this upgrade means practical things. First, transactions will be much faster—especially those using privacy tools or certain DeFi protocols. Instead of waiting several minutes, transactions will be included in about 12 to 24 seconds. Second, inclusion will become predictable—so long as you pay the market gas fees, your transaction is guaranteed to appear on-chain. Third, the network will become more resilient because it will reduce the influence of validators and centralized proposers.

Ultimately, the planned Hegota upgrade in the second half of this year represents a very important step. Ethereum is trying to address censorship issues at their root. Whether it succeeds completely or faces regulatory challenges, it will be an exciting development to watch. The community is closely monitoring how things will evolve in the coming months.