Ethereum's ambitious plan to speed up its network upgrades is facing a critical test as its core developers clash over key changes to the blockchain's technical architecture that could have drastic consequences for an ecosystem worth billions in value.
Disagreements are rife over how to implement EVM Object Format, a container format which improves the separation of code and data within Ethereum Smart Contracts.
EOF performs safety checks of EVM bytecode in advance, rather than during execution. Bytecodes consist of low-level commands that can be understood and used by the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
EOF’s intended purpose is to speed up and reduce the cost of running applications in the network, as well as to prevent certain validation errors which could lead into problems.
The rift emerged during the February 13 All Core Developers Execution Call (ACDE), when the Geth team, which maintains Lightclient, Ethereum's most widely used client software, expressed its opposition to including the EOF for Fusaka, despite it being months ahead in preparation and testing.
"We disagree that EOF should be shipped on mainnet at all," Geth’s team posted comments on Zoom, indicating their view is to completely remove EOF as part of the Fusaka Upgrade.
Geth’s Marius van der Wijden, however, says that this view is not a collective one. "mostly as individuals."
"I don't think we should force team members to 'fall into the party line,'" Van der Wijden said during the phone call.
Van der Wijden has been a vocal critic of EOF implementation for Ethereum's imminent Pectra upgrade.
"The biggest issue I see is that EOF is extremely complex," Van der Wijden wrote in a blog last year.
Van der Wijden states that EOF "only makes existing things slightly faster or slightly cheaper," "the drawbacks strongly outweigh the potential benefits."
Van der Wijden seems to have lost interest in the issue a half-year later.
My official current thoughts on the #EOF debate pic.twitter.com/G2shcE1IOp
— MariusVanDerWijden (@vdWijden) February 13, 2025
Picking up speed
Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation's Protocol Support Lead, confirmed the more immediate Pectra upgrade will proceed to public testnets Holesky and Sepolia on February 24 and March 5 respectively, with mainnet deployment targeted for April 8.
To address mounting tensions, Beiko proposed an extended timeline for finalizing Fusaka's scope: a new deadline for proposing new improvement proposals (March 13), another for coming to terms on upgrade preferences (March 27), and a final decision on what Fusaka should include (April 10).
The Geth team's resistance to EOF also opens broader concerns about how fast Ethereum could turn things around.
"We need to try and figure out what [proposals] fit best with the goals we want to have the next 12 months and then go from there," Geth’s developer advocated a more measured way to improve Ethereum during the phone call.
Roman Krasiuk, Reth’s developer, stressed the importance of keeping momentum. "We would never get to a faster pace if we don't commit ahead of time to the scope."
Independent developers and other client teams continue supporting EOF's inclusion, with ongoing testing on dedicated development networks alongside other planned improvements for data availability on the network.
Van der Wijden Beiko and an Ethereum Foundation researcher did not respond to requests for comments from Decrypt.