Ethereum aims protocol upgrades as price faces growing bearish pressure

The Ethereum Foundation has laid out its Protocol Priorities for 2026, focusing on core upgrades that could reshape the network’s technical direction this year.

The update outlines progress from 2025 and sets strategic goals for scaling, user experience, and core security enhancements.

In 2025, developers delivered two major network upgrades. The Pectra upgrade landed in May. It added EIP-7702, which enables accounts to run smart contract code.

In December, the Fusaka upgrade rolled out PeerDAS, reducing validator data bandwidth needs and expanding potential blob capacity.

2025 saw meaningful developments across the network, including enhancements to validator performance and higher network throughput capabilities. These technical advances laid groundwork for the scaling and usability improvements now prioritized in the new year roadmap.

Now, the first major upgrade on the 2026 roadmap is Glamsterdam, targeted for the first half of the year, followed by Hegotá later in 2026. These efforts aim to make Ethereum (ETH) more efficient, secure, and resilient as the ecosystem continues growing.

The new structure also emphasizes native account abstraction and better cross-chain tooling to simplify development and end-user interactions. Developers say this structure will help Ethereum scale securely while improving the experience for users and builders.

At the same time that developers pivot to long-term upgrades, the Ethereum price trend has shown increasing downside risks. On the charts, ETH has formed a bearish pennant pattern, a classic technical setup that often signals continuation of the existing downtrend.

This structure appeared after a series of lower highs and lower lows, compressing price action into a tightening range as volatility fades, which traders interpret as hinting at potential further weakness.