Ethereum Foundation Reveals Plan to Counteract Censorship
The Ethereum Foundation researcher Thomas Thierry has put forward a proposal to integrate the FOCIL mechanism, also known as EIP-7805, into the upcoming Hegota upgrade. This initiative is focused on enhancing the network’s ability to resist censorship effectively.
According to Thierry, who is a member of the Robust Incentives Group, there is currently a lack of protocol-level assurances against transaction censorship within the blockchain. The introduction of FOCIL (Fork Choice-enforced Inclusion Lists) would empower validators to enforce the inclusion of operations in the distributed ledger. This measure serves to mitigate the influence of centralized block “builders” and relays that may obstruct or delay user operations.
The primary goal of this proposal is to combat the centralization problem in the builder market, which has been exacerbated by the extraction of Miner Extractable Value (MEV). Researchers argue that ensuring censorship resistance at a technical level is essential to safeguard the network’s integrity, rather than relying solely on the ethical standards of market participants.
Thierry emphasized the need for Ethereum to be resilient for years to come, stressing the importance of proactive measures to prevent censorship rather than reacting to incidents as they occur. Despite the current low occurrence of transaction censorship by dominant block builders, Thierry highlighted the potential for this situation to change abruptly.
The implementation of the FOCIL mechanism poses certain challenges that must be addressed through additional technical solutions. For instance, the existing version of FOCIL does not support transactions involving BLOB and private MEV transfers. While the proposal was initially considered for the Glamsterdam hard fork, it was ultimately postponed, with the Hegota update now slated for release in 2026.
In January, there was a notable surge in activity on the Ethereum mainnet, surpassing that of layer-two solutions due to the low fees prevalent at the time. As the network continues to evolve, the integration of anti-censorship strategies like FOCIL becomes vital in ensuring the long-term resilience and integrity of the Ethereum blockchain.
