Vitalik Buterin focuses on "Big FOCIL" and the crypto memory pool to prevent centralization of the block building process

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently published a series of technical articles discussing the future roadmap of Ethereum. In the latest article, he focused on analyzing the potential centralization risks in the block building pipeline and proposed solutions such as expanding the FOCIL mechanism and introducing encrypted mempools to enhance the network's censorship resistance.

According to the plan, Ethereum will launch the Glamsterdam upgrade in the first half of 2026, which will introduce the enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) mechanism. This mechanism allows block proposers to outsource block construction to a permissionless open market, reducing the centralization risk at the staking level. However, Buterin pointed out that while ePBS can prevent the concentration of block building rights among a few staking pools, the block building itself may still become concentrated among a few high-tier participants due to specialization and maximizing MEV, leading to a new trend of centralization.

To address this issue, Ethereum developers plan to simultaneously launch the FOCIL (Forward Obligatory Commitment to Inclusion Lists) mechanism in the Glamsterdam upgrade. The initial version will randomly select 16 witnesses, mandating that specific transactions must be included in the block; otherwise, the block will be rejected. Buterin stated that even if block construction is controlled by a single malicious entity, FOCIL can still ensure that transactions cannot be fully censored.

Additionally, Buterin explored the possibility of expanding the FOCIL ("big FOCIL") scale and introducing encrypted mempools to further mitigate the issues of information asymmetry and power concentration in the block building process. Recently, Buterin has been vocal about topics such as quantum resistance roadmaps, execution layer improvements, and block building mechanisms, indicating that the core Ethereum development team is conducting systematic design and risk assessment for the next phase of protocol upgrades.