The Ethereum Foundation has outlined its key development goals for 2026, targeting significant improvements in scalability, security, and user experience. In a statement, the organization announced priorities including a continued push to raise the network’s gas limit toward 100 million, the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade, and establishing “post-quantum readiness.” The foundation also emphasized enhancing smart wallets and cross-chain interoperability as part of its focus for the year.
The Ethereum Foundation has announced its 2026 protocol priorities, targeting faster transactions, smarter wallets, better cross-chain interoperability, and quantum-resistant security. The organization stated in a blog post that it aims to scale the gas limit “toward and beyond” 100 million.
This follows a major community-driven increase from 30 million to 60 million in 2025. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano previously noted that a goal of 180 million this year is a baseline scenario.
The foundation highlighted the Glamsterdam network upgrade, scheduled for the first half of 2026, as a major priority. It also emphasized “post-quantum readiness” within its trillion-dollar security initiative.
On Jan. 24, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake said in an X post that the foundation had formed a new Post-Quantum team. “Today marks an inflection in the Ethereum Foundation’s long-term quantum strategy,” Drake stated.
The 2026 roadmap includes a focus on user experience through enhanced smart wallets and native account abstraction. The goal is to enable seamless, trust-minimized interactions across different layer-2 networks.
This announcement follows recent comments by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on integrating artificial intelligence with the network. Buterin explained he sees AI and Ethereum working together to improve markets, financial safety, and human agency.
