Quantum security and gas limit expansion headline Ethereum Foundation's 2026 roadmap
In reflecting on 2025 as among its "most productive years," the Ethereum Foundation pointed to two significant network upgrades and a substantial gas limit expansion.
In its newly announced roadmap for 2026, the Ethereum Foundation has identified improved transaction speeds, enhanced wallet functionality, superior cross-chain capabilities, and quantum-resistant security as its key "protocol priorities" for the coming year.
According to a statement released on Wednesday, the organization detailed multiple objectives, which include pushing forward with gas limit scaling efforts — representing the ceiling for computational operations that can be processed in a single block — aiming to reach and surpass the 100 million threshold, a subject that has dominated conversations within the Ethereum community throughout 2025.
Various members of the Ethereum community are expecting the gas limit to experience substantial growth this year. During November 2025, Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano stated that achieving Ethereum's gas limit target of 180 million in 2026 represents a baseline expectation rather than an optimistic scenario.
"Post-quantum readiness" is a focus for Ethereum
The organization highlighted the Glamsterdam network upgrade, scheduled to launch during the first half of 2026, as a critical priority. Additionally, the foundation underscored "post-quantum readiness" within its trillion-dollar security framework as a key focus area.
In an X post published on Jan. 24, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake revealed that the foundation had "formed a new Post-Quantum (PQ) team."
"Today marks an inflection in the Ethereum Foundation's long-term quantum strategy," Drake said.
According to the Ethereum Foundation, 2026 efforts will also concentrate on user experience improvements, particularly through advancing smart wallet capabilities using native account abstraction and facilitating seamless blockchain-to-blockchain interactions through enhanced interoperability features.
"The goal remains seamless, trust-minimized cross-L2 interactions, and we're getting closer day by day. Continued progress on faster L1 confirmations and shorter L2 settlement times directly supports this."
According to the foundation, 2025 ranked among its "most productive years," pointing to two significant network upgrades, Pectra and Fusaka, along with the community's achievement in doubling the gas limit from 30 million to 60 million between these upgrades, marking the first such increase since 2021.
Buterin's big plans for Ethereum and AI
In an X post published Wednesday, Mario Havel from the Ethereum Foundation noted that, "It took us a while to push out the announcement because we were preparing the biggest curriculum so far."
The announcement arrives mere days following Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's latest vision for how Ethereum could integrate with artificial intelligence, shared on Feb. 10. In his post, Buterin outlined his perspective on how these technologies could collaborate to enhance markets, strengthen financial security, and expand human agency.
According to Buterin, his overarching vision for AI's future centers on empowering human capabilities rather than supplanting them, although he acknowledged that the near-term focus involves considerably more "ordinary" ideas.