The world’s second-largest blockchain is going to become more user-friendly in 2026. The Ethereum Foundation has come up with an ambitious 2026 strategy, with speed, security, and a smarter user experience as its key priorities.
The foundation published the strategy on Wednesday. It focuses on faster transactions, very strong security, smarter wallets, and better cross-chain portability. One of the other main focuses of the plan is to push the network’s gas limit beyond 100 million. The gas limit in Ethereum plays an important role in managing computational power, network security, and scalability. Moreover, it is the core factor for what the network can safely process per block. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano previously called a 180 million gas limit a baseline expectation for 2026, and not an ambitious ceiling.
Various Upgrades and Post-Quantum Push
The foundation flagged the Glamsterdam network upgrade, slated for the first half of 2026, as a key near-term milestone. This upgrade will make the blockchain faster and fairer by improving how transactions are ordered, optimizing gas costs, and preparing for higher transaction limits.
The blockchain also activated a dedicated post-quantum team in January, with researcher Justin Drake describing the move as a turning point in Ethereum’s long-term security strategy. On the user experience front, the foundation is advancing native account abstraction to power smarter wallets and working to cut settlement times across Layer 2 networks.
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The foundation credited 2025 as one of its most productive years, completing the Pectra and Fusaka upgrades and doubling the gas limit from 30 million to 60 million, and this is the first such increase since 2021.
Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin also outlined his vision for merging Ethereum with artificial intelligence to strengthen markets and human agency.
