Vitalik Buterin has drawn a direct line between two Ethereum Improvement Proposals that, combined, would make smart contract wallets and privacy protocols nearly impossible to censor at the protocol level. As of February 20, 2026, the Ethereum co-founder says FOCIL (EIP-7805) and EIP-8141 together create a path for "almost guaranteed inclusion within one or two slots," even when hostile block builders try to exclude specific transactions.
The statement comes as FOCIL advances toward inclusion in Ethereum's upcoming Hegota hard fork, and it has already reignited a fierce debate about whether forcing validators to include sanctioned transactions could expose them to criminal prosecution.
From One Proposer to Seventeen
Ethereum's current block construction relies on a single proposer per slot. That proposer decides which transactions make it into the block and which get left behind. In practice, a concentrated oligopoly of professional block builders controls most of Ethereum's block production. If these builders coordinate, or face regulatory pressure, they can selectively exclude transactions from specific addresses.
FOCIL fundamentally restructures this model. Instead of one proposer, the framework designates 17 proposers per block slot: one "privileged" proposer who orders transactions and chooses the final block structure, and 16 "non-privileged" proposers who select transactions that must be included somewhere in the block.
The lighter workload for non-privileged proposers, which involves only validating transactions without computing state, means any attester can serve as an auxiliary proposer. This distributes inclusion power so broadly that even if two builders controlled 99% of block production, transactions would still reach blocks through FOCIL includers.
Buterin framed the approach as one of three defense layers: "Make sure that the public mempool continues to be strong," "work on distributed block building technology," and "add extra channels through which transactions can be included."
Why Smart Wallets Needed Their Own EIP
EIP-8141 builds on Ethereum's account abstraction roadmap (extending EIP-7701) to make smart contract wallets first-class transaction senders. Today, smart wallets often rely on relayers or bundlers to get their transactions onchain. That intermediary layer introduces a censorship bottleneck: if relayers refuse to forward certain transactions, smart wallet users have no fallback.
Under EIP-8141, smart accounts can submit transactions directly to the public mempool without wrappers or intermediaries. These accounts support multisignature controls, quantum-resistant keys, and gas sponsorship natively. Buterin noted that "8141 makes not just smart accounts first-class citizens, it also can do the same for privacy protocols."
The combination matters because FOCIL alone protects standard EOA (externally owned account) transactions. Without EIP-8141, smart wallet transactions and privacy protocol withdrawals would remain dependent on the relayer layer, which FOCIL does not cover. Together, the two EIPs close the gap.
The 90 Percent Censorship Precedent
This is not a theoretical concern. During peak Tornado Cash filtering, approximately 90% of Ethereum nodes censored transactions associated with the protocol. Transactions that would normally confirm in one slot took roughly 10 times longer to process. The network still worked, but the censorship demonstrated how concentrated block builder power could throttle specific transaction types.
Buterin has repeatedly cited this episode as evidence that Ethereum's "dumb pipe" property, processing all valid transactions without discrimination, faces genuine threats. FOCIL is designed to ensure that even under similar pressure, no single entity or coordinated group can meaningfully delay transaction inclusion.
Each FOCIL inclusion list carries approximately 8 kilobytes in the initial phase. The 16 non-privileged proposers are randomly selected per slot, making coordination among censors significantly harder.
The OFAC Collision Course
Not everyone agrees the tradeoff is worth it. Ameen Soleimani, founder of Reflexer Labs, has raised significant objections to FOCIL's design. His core argument: forcing validators to include transactions from sanctioned addresses "could expose them to criminal penalties of up to 20 years for sanctions violations."
Soleimani characterizes FOCIL as creating "a big problem" and suggests dismissing the legal risks is "either naive or reckless." He points to the Tornado Cash developer prosecutions as precedent for how aggressively governments pursue enforcement, and warns that FOCIL could make U.S. validator participation impossible without violating OFAC regulations.
The concern extends beyond validators. Soleimani argues that attesters and even Ethereum core developers who designed FOCIL could face prosecution if the mechanism forces inclusion of sanctioned transactions.
Buterin's counter: neutrality justifies these design choices. Crypto attorney Gabriel Shapiro has suggested FOCIL might be "worth the risk," but the debate remains unresolved within Ethereum's leadership.
Soleimani's alternative position is that the current system, where "altruistic" attesters voluntarily include censored transactions, already balances censorship resistance with legal protection. He advocates maintaining the status quo while researching mechanisms that do not create direct legal liability.
What This Means for Ethereum Wallet Users
For users of self-custody wallets and smart account-based products, FOCIL + EIP-8141 represents a structural upgrade to transaction reliability. Several implications stand out.
First, smart wallet transactions become as reliable as standard wallet transactions. Products built on account abstraction, including crypto cards from providers like ether.fi, Gnosis Pay, and MetaMask, would no longer depend on relayer infrastructure that can be pressured into filtering transactions.
Second, privacy protocol withdrawals gain the same inclusion guarantees. Users who move funds through privacy-preserving tools before loading a card balance would face less risk of delayed settlement.
Third, the quantum-resistant key support in EIP-8141 addresses a growing concern in the self-custody space. As quantum computing advances, wallets that support post-quantum cryptography natively will have a security advantage, and FOCIL ensures those transactions cannot be excluded by builders unfamiliar with new signature schemes.
The counterargument is real, though. If U.S. regulators interpret FOCIL as a mechanism that facilitates sanctions evasion, validators in jurisdictions with strict OFAC compliance could face pressure to exit the network. A validator exodus from the U.S. would shift Ethereum's geographic distribution and could affect decentralization metrics.
The Hegota Fork Timeline
FOCIL is confirmed for consideration in Ethereum's Hegota hard fork, the next major consensus-layer upgrade. While no firm date has been set, Ethereum developers have advanced EIP-7805 through the review process, and it has received sustained attention in recent All Core Devs calls.
The Hegota fork is expected to bundle several censorship-resistance and scaling improvements. FOCIL's inclusion would represent the most significant change to Ethereum's block construction mechanism since the Merge.
Whether EIP-8141 ships in the same fork or follows shortly after remains an open question. The two proposals are technically independent but functionally complementary, and Buterin's public linking of them suggests he wants the community to treat them as a package.
FAQ
What is FOCIL? FOCIL stands for Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, formalized as EIP-7805. It expands Ethereum's block proposers from 1 to 17 per slot, with 16 non-privileged proposers ensuring transactions cannot be censored by a single block builder.
What does EIP-8141 do? EIP-8141 makes smart contract wallets first-class transaction senders on Ethereum. Smart accounts can submit transactions directly to the mempool without relayers, supporting multisignature controls, quantum-resistant keys, and gas sponsorship.
When will FOCIL go live? FOCIL is slated for the upcoming Hegota hard fork, but no specific date has been confirmed. It is actively progressing through Ethereum's All Core Devs review process.
Could FOCIL create legal problems for validators? Critics like Ameen Soleimani argue that forcing validators to include sanctioned transactions could expose them to criminal penalties under OFAC regulations, potentially up to 20 years. Buterin maintains that protocol-level neutrality justifies the design.
How does this affect crypto card users? Self-custody crypto cards built on Ethereum smart accounts would gain stronger transaction inclusion guarantees, reducing the risk of delayed or censored spending transactions at the protocol level.
Overview
Vitalik Buterin's endorsement of FOCIL and EIP-8141 as complementary upgrades marks a decisive move toward censorship-resistant transaction inclusion on Ethereum. FOCIL distributes block proposal power across 17 validators per slot, while EIP-8141 ensures smart wallets and privacy protocols can access the public mempool directly. Together, they promise near-guaranteed inclusion within one to two slots. The legal debate around validator liability under OFAC remains the biggest obstacle, with no consensus among Ethereum's leadership. Watch the Hegota fork timeline and upcoming All Core Devs calls for signals on whether both EIPs ship together or get split across upgrades.
Recommended Reading
- Ethereum Hits 10 Years of 100 Percent Uptime, a Reliability Record No Other Layer 1 Can Match
- Ethereum PoS Deposit Contract Crosses 50 Percent of Total Supply for the First Time as Stakers Defy the Bear Market
- A Single Misconfigured Oracle Valued cbETH at $1.12 Instead of $2,200, Draining $1.78 Million From Moonwell in Four Minutes
