Ethereum researchers have proposed prioritizing two transaction changes for the 2027 Hegotá upgrade that could let privacy pools pay network fees without third-party intermediaries.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said in an Aug. 17 X post that the Protocol Architecture team wants developers to prioritize Frame Transactions, listed as EIP-8141, and Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, known as FOCIL or EIP-7805.

Ethereum privacy pools could pay their own fees

Frame Transactions would introduce a programmable transaction format that gives wallets more control over validation, execution, and gas payments. Wahrstätter described frames as a “much more expressive transaction format” and a key part of Ethereum’s planned transaction experience.

Under the proposal, transaction logic would be divided into programmable frames instead of relying on Ethereum’s current fixed transaction structure. Wallets and applications could use the format for gas sponsorship, alternative signature systems, key rotation, and other forms of account abstraction.

For privacy pools, the fee-payment feature could remove the need for a separate relayer to submit a transaction and pay its gas. Relayers can create another point where transaction details, wallet behavior, or network information may become visible to an outside service.

“Together with Frames, these enable privacy pools where the pool itself can pay fees, removing the need for intermediaries,” Wahrstätter said. “Add FOCIL support, and privacy transactions also gain protocol-level inclusion guarantees.”

Frame Transactions would work with Keyed Nonces and Recent Roots, listed as EIP-8272. Keyed Nonces would let an account maintain separate transaction sequences, while Recent Roots would allow a transaction to refer to a recent Ethereum state without relying on one fixed block reference.

The proposed package also includes Transaction Assertions, or EIP-7906. According to Wahrstätter, assertions would let wallets define conditions that must remain true when a transaction is processed, giving users a way to limit what can happen after they sign and submit it.

Earlier crypto.news coverage found that EIP-8141 remains under consideration rather than scheduled for Hegotá. Ethereum client teams are also comparing it with EIP-8130, another account-abstraction proposal, before deciding which design should move into implementation and testing.

FOCIL would protect eligible transactions from censorship

FOCIL is the only Ethereum Improvement Proposal currently scheduled for Hegotá. The design would allow a committee of validators to publish lists of transactions that block builders are expected to include.

Attesters could reject a proposed block if its builder improperly left out eligible transactions from an inclusion list. Ethereum developers have presented the system as a way to protect transaction access as block production becomes more specialized and concentrated among large builders.

Privacy transactions could benefit because users would not have to depend entirely on a block builder’s willingness to include them. FOCIL would not make transactions private on its own, but it would add a protocol process for resisting selective exclusion.

Wahrstätter has argued that combining FOCIL with Frame Transactions, Keyed Nonces, and Recent Roots would give privacy pools both independent fee payment and stronger inclusion protection. His proposal represents a researcher’s preferred package, not a final decision by Ethereum’s core developers.

Hegotá currently has 66 proposals under discussion, covering account abstraction, censorship resistance, transaction pricing, state growth, validator economics, and network scaling. The number does not mean all 66 features will ship, as most have not entered implementation, development networks, or public testnets.

“A fork can’t be a wishlist by the community or core devs jamming on what Ethereum should eventually become,” Wahrstätter wrote in an earlier post. Developers instead need to decide which changes Ethereum should adopt next and which ones require more time, he added.

US scrutiny has kept crypto privacy tools in focus

For US users, the proposals concern how Ethereum processes private transactions rather than changing federal rules governing money transmission, sanctions, or illicit finance. American treatment of crypto privacy software has remained contested across Treasury actions and criminal cases involving mixing services.

The US Treasury removed economic sanctions against Tornado Cash in March 2025 after reviewing the legal and policy questions raised by applying sanctions to technology-based financial activity. Treasury said at the time that it remained concerned about North Korean hackers and other illicit actors using digital assets.

In a separate criminal case, a Manhattan jury convicted Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm in August 2025 of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Jurors did not reach verdicts on the money-laundering and sanctions charges, according to the reported split verdict.

The US Justice Department said Tornado Cash had transmitted more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds, including funds connected to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Storm’s defense maintained that the protocol operated through autonomous open-source software and that its developers did not control individual transactions.

Ethereum’s proposed privacy pool design differs at the protocol level because Wahrstätter’s post deals with fee payment and transaction inclusion, not the legal structure or compliance systems of a specific application. Neither EIP-8141 nor EIP-7805 defines how privacy applications would handle US sanctions screening, money-transmission rules, or other compliance requirements.

Hegotá follows Ethereum’s 2026 Glamsterdam upgrade

Hegotá is scheduled to follow Glamsterdam, the Ethereum upgrade developers want to release before the end of 2026. A June upgrade report said Glamsterdam centers on Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation and Block-Level Access Lists, alongside changes to the way Ethereum prices network resources.

Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation would bring the division between block proposers and builders into Ethereum’s protocol. Block-Level Access Lists would show which accounts and contract data a block needs, allowing clients to prepare data before execution and process some transactions in parallel.

Hegotá candidates extend that work into privacy, censorship resistance, account abstraction, and state management. Scaling proposals under review include EIP-8368, which would adjust state-creation costs if Ethereum raises its gas limit beyond the level used for Glamsterdam.

Developers are also studying separate access-list data, higher gas limits approaching 500 million to 600 million, and optional zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine proofs on the main network. Each proposal must compete for engineering resources, client support, testing time, and space within the 2027 release schedule.

Privacy and quantum resistance also sit inside Ethereum’s multi-year technical plans. A July roadmap analysis reported that Vitalik Buterin’s Lean Ethereum plan calls for new cryptography, proof-based verification, redesigned storage, and native protocol privacy over the next three to four years.

Execution client teams are due to submit their Hegotá preference lists by Sept. 10. Before then, developers plan to compare EIP-8141 with EIP-8130 during an Aug. 25 breakout meeting, with a decision on the competing account-abstraction designs targeted for the Aug. 27 All Core Developers Execution call.

How can you tell if you’re frail?

It’s not a priority, said Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, but Strategy (MSTR) could buy back its own shares if they become cheap enough.

The comments during a Monday Q&A follow a rough stretch for Strategy’s common shareholders. MSTR is down about 38% this year and 73% year-over-year, driven in large part by bitcoin’s BTC$64,308.57 decline, as well as by the consistent issuance of common stock to fund more bitcoin purchases, build cash reserves, pay dividends, and repurchase preferred stock.

“If MSTR is trading at a very, very deep discount to NAV, then probably you would see us do something like that,” Saylor said.

For now, though, Strategy is focused on its preferred stock business, especially STRC.

CEO Phong Le also defended Strategy’s practice of selling new MSTR shares. While some investors worry that issuing more stock dilutes existing shareholders, Le argued that selling shares can help when MSTR trades above the value of the assets backing each share, and Strategy uses the proceeds to buy bitcoin. In that situation, he said, the amount of bitcoin backing each MSTR share can increase.

The recent drop in STRC has also changed how Strategy manages its money.

Trump argues that presidential immunity applies

Ethereum price rose nearly 2% on Aug. 17 as ETH reclaimed $1,900, while improving daily momentum and nearby short-liquidation clusters put the $2,000 level back in focus.

Ethereum price moves back above $1,900

According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price traded at $1,912 at press time, up 1.95% on the day after moving between an intraday low of $1,872 and a high of $1,915. Buyers entered near the session low and carried ETH through the psychological $1,900 level.

The recovery extended a consolidation phase that has developed since ETH rebounded from its late-June low near $1,530. Price has since formed a series of higher lows, although repeated selling around $1,930–$1,960 has prevented a wider breakout.

ETH’s daily candle closed above several closely watched averages. The 20-day simple moving average stood at $1,889, while the 100-day and 50-day averages were positioned at $1,869 and $1,845, respectively. Holding above those lines would preserve the improving short-term structure.

The daily relative strength index rose to 56.5, above its signal average of 53. An RSI above 50 shows that buying momentum has strengthened, but the reading remains well below overbought territory.

Longer-term pressure has not disappeared. Ethereum remains below its declining 200-day moving average at $2,009, making the area around $2,000–$2,010 a more important test than the initial move through $1,900.

Tom Lee watches Ethereum’s daily cloud

Fundstrat co-founder and BitMine chairman Tom Lee reposted an analysis from MacroCRG that placed ETH about 3.5% below its daily Ichimoku Cloud. The analyst described a move above that layer as a legitimate breakout because Ethereum has not traded decisively above it since Oct. 9, 2025.

“Would be good to see,” Lee wrote in response.

The original technical assessment came from MacroCRG rather than Lee. His comment only expressed support for the prospect of a breakout and did not include a price forecast.

At ETH’s current price, a 3.5% advance would take the token close to $1,980. The calculation places the cloud breakout area just below the $2,000 psychological barrier and the 200-day moving average visible near $2,009 on the supplied daily chart.

A daily move into that region would therefore confront three forms of resistance within a narrow range: the Ichimoku Cloud, the $2,000 round-number level, and the 200-day average. ETH would need to hold above the zone, rather than briefly trade through it, to establish a stronger daily reversal.

Liquidation clusters build on both sides of ETH

The one-week CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows the closest concentrated leverage above Ethereum around $1,925. A stronger pool appears between roughly $1,945 and $1,950, with additional liquidity extending toward $1,960.

A move through $1,925 could force some bearish positions to close, adding market purchases to the existing demand. Clearing the larger $1,945–$1,950 band could then accelerate a test of the upper-$1,900 region.

The map also shows a major cluster around $1,910, but ETH had already moved through much of that area by the end of the chart. Remaining overhead liquidity near $1,925 now represents the closest possible target.

Downside exposure is concentrated near $1,860, with a wider and denser band between approximately $1,835 and $1,855. If ETH loses $1,870, the lower pools could draw the price toward that region and trigger long liquidations.

Liquidation heatmaps identify areas where leveraged positions may face forced closure, but they do not determine which zone price will reach first.

Analysts identify $1,870 as the key downside level

Analyst Michaël van de Poppe said Ethereum’s daily chart was improving as the asset continued to form higher highs and higher lows. Based on that construction, he considered an upside break more likely than an immediate loss of support.

Van de Poppe nevertheless warned that ETH could fall quickly if it loses $1,870 because substantial long-side liquidity sits below the market. He identified $1,700 as a possible downside target before a rebound if that breakdown occurs.

His bullish scenario requires a clear move through $2,000. Van de Poppe said ETH may not spend much time near that level once it breaks, potentially producing a sharp advance similar to moves observed earlier in 2025.

The analyst identified $2,200 as a possible temporary stopping point before a broader run toward $2,800. Those targets remain conditional on Ethereum first breaking and holding above $2,000.

$2,000 remains the deciding level for Ethereum

The immediate market structure favors buyers while ETH remains above its cluster of daily moving averages. Support sits at $1,889, followed by $1,870 and the $1,845–$1,860 region shown across the daily chart and liquidation map.

On the upside, bulls first need to clear leveraged resistance near $1,925 and $1,950. The larger technical decision would come around $1,980–$2,010, where MacroCRG’s cloud estimate, the psychological $2,000 mark, and the 200-day average converge.

US-listed spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds recorded a modest net outflow of $2.26 million during the Aug. 10–14 trading week, according to SoSoValue data. BlackRock’s ETHA posted $16.39 million in weekly withdrawals, indicating that the latest price recovery has yet to receive clear support from US ETF demand.

A daily close above $2,010 would improve Ethereum’s longer-term structure and open the path toward the levels cited by van de Poppe. Failure to hold $1,870 would weaken the setup and expose the liquidation-heavy zone below $1,860.

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy diluted shareholders of MSTR, the company’s common stock, by $333.7 million last week and bought no bitcoin (BTC). Instead, the company redirected about 40% of the proceeds to repurchase STRC for its preferred shareholders, 16% as STRC dividends, and kept the rest for itself as cash.

Strategy disclosed the transactions in an SEC filing this morning. It was the company’s fourth straight week of diluting MSTR shareholders with $0 BTC purchases.

In fact, Strategy has not increased its BTC holdings since June 21, 2026. It owns 6,916 fewer BTC today than it did two months ago. 

As a reward for patiently enduring founder Michael Saylor’s shareholder dilution program, MSTR shareholders have lost 16% of their investment since the company reported its last BTC purchase.

In fact, since the July 2025 debut of STRC on the Nasdaq, the price of MSTR has declined 75%.

The STRC rollercoaster from $100 to $71.25 to $95

Strategy has raised roughly $16.3 billion by diluting MSTR since it launched STRC, a dividend-paying preferred share that is supposed to trade near $100 yet has actually traded as low as $71.25 on the Nasdaq.

As STRC collapsed earlier this year, the company started to stack USD instead of BTC — an effort to assure investors that it would pay STRC dividends. It also resorted to direct buybacks of STRC after amassing cash didn’t do the trick. 

Still, STRC languishes, trading below $95 today.