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'Ethereum is going hard' 💪

'Ethereum is going hard' 💪

A controversial censorship resistance upgrade is coming to Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin said it'll get the network closer to the cypherpunk ethos.

Andrew Hayward
February 21, 2026

📝 What you need to know

What’s next for Ethereum? The network is “going hard,” in the words of founder Vitalik Buterin, who has backed a censorship resistance enhancement that’s been committed to the network’s Hegota upgrade due in the second half of this year.

The Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, or FOCIL, feature would force validators to include all transactions. The proposed upgrade has been controversial due to the potential for running afoul of sanctions, but now that it’s locked in, Buterin said that it’s essential for hardening Ethereum and embracing the cypherpunk ethos.

“I’m actually trying to do something even more ambitious: Create ‘cypherpunk principled non-ugly Ethereum’ as a bolt-on to the present-day system, in a way that's as tightly integrated and interoperable as possible, and then grow it over time,” Buterin wrote on X.

'Ethereum Is Going Hard': Vitalik Buterin Backs Censorship Resistance Upgrade

Ethereum developers scheduled a controversial upgrade for later this year. Buterin said it reinforces the network’s cypherpunk principles.

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