Key Highlights
- Ethereum developers are considering Frame Transactions to let privacy pools pay their own transaction fees without third-party intermediaries.
- FOCIL could help ensure eligible privacy transactions are included on the Ethereum network and harder to censor.
- The privacy changes are still being considered for the 2027 Hegotá upgrade, with 66 proposals currently under review.
Ethereum developers are considering a new set of changes that could give privacy pools more control over transaction fees as the network prepares for its 2027 Hegotá upgrade.
In a Monday post on X, Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said these changes could remove the need for third parties to pay fees, helping limit wallet activity that may otherwise be exposed.
The proposal is called Frame Transactions, or EIP-8141. Wahrstätter said the Protocol Architecture team wants it to be one of the main parts of Hegotá, alongside Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL), or EIP-7805. FOCIL is already confirmed for the upgrade, while Frame Transactions is still one of 66 proposals being considered.
How frame transactions could improve privacy
The privacy idea becomes clearer when Frame Transactions is combined with two other proposals: Keyed Nonces (EIP-8250) and Recent Roots for Frame Transactions (EIP-8272). Together, they could allow a privacy pool to pay its own transaction fees.
That means the pool would not have to depend on another service to pay the fees for it. This matters because using an outside party can create another link between transactions and wallet activity.
“Together with Frames, these enable privacy pools where the pool itself can pay fees, removing the need for intermediaries,” Wahrstätter wrote in an X post.
Wahrstätter described Frame Transactions as a “much more expressive transaction format” and an important building block for Ethereum’s next-generation transaction experience. The proposal would give wallets more control over how transactions are handled and executed.
The package also includes Transaction Assertions, or EIP-7906, which would allow wallets to place conditions on what a transaction can do after it has been submitted. In simple terms, it would give users more control over how their transactions behave.
FOCIL could help protect valid transactions
Meanwhile, FOCIL takes a different path. The proposal is focused on stopping valid transactions from being left out of blocks. It would give the Ethereum protocol stronger rules for including eligible transactions.
Wahrstätter said combining FOCIL with the privacy changes could give privacy transactions protocol-level inclusion guarantees. This would add another layer to the planned privacy improvements.
Developers still have to choose what makes Hegotá
Still, most of the proposals are not confirmed for Hegotá. Developers are reviewing 66 proposals and deciding which ones can realistically be included. Wahrstätter said the upgrade cannot simply become a list of everything developers want Ethereum to become.
“A fork can’t be a wishlist,” he wrote in an earlier post. “Instead, we have to decide what Ethereum should become next, and what has to wait.”
Privacy is also part of a wider change being discussed for Ethereum. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has pushed for greater privacy, protection against future quantum computers and less dependence on layer-2 networks. Ethereum researchers have also outlined plans involving faster transactions, native privacy and stronger security through 2029.
Ethereum also has scaling changes on the Table
Aside from that, developers are looking at ways to handle Ethereum’s growth. Some proposals would change how transaction data and state growth are priced as the gas limit moves toward 500 million to 600 million. Others would separate block-access-list data from execution payloads and test optional zkEVM proofs on mainnet.
Hegotá is expected to come after Glamsterdam, which developers aim to ship by the end of 2026. Wahrstätter said the tight schedule makes the current decisions important because developers cannot include everything and still expect to deliver on time.
For now, Ethereum’s privacy push remains a proposal rather than a finished feature. Developers still have to decide which changes make the final Hegotá package, but Frame Transactions has emerged as one of the proposals being considered for a bigger role in how Ethereum handles transactions and privacy.
Also Read: Harmony to Discard 141,628 Blocks and 109,126 Transactions in Rollback
