Is The Future of Ethereum Centralised and Censored?
From Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies by Epicenter Media Ltd.
February 1, 2026 · 58 min · Episode 635
About this episode
The episode discusses the implications of EIP-7805 and FOCIL on Ethereum's centralization and censorship risks.
In this episode, host Friederike Ernst is joined by Thomas Thiery, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, to discuss EIP-7805 and the implementation of FOCIL (Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists). Thomas explains how the rise of MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) has created a centralized builder market where a few actors now control over 85% of Ethereum's block production, creating a dangerous bottleneck for censorship. FOCIL addresses this by empowering a decentralized committee of 16 validators to mandate transaction inclusion, making any block that ignores these lists invalid. They explore the "Tornado Cash" moment and the risks of "silent censorship" for competitive or regulatory reasons. Thomas explains why FOCIL intentionally prioritizes the public mempool over MEV-heavy transactions to prevent the system from being co-opted. Finally, the conversation looks at the future of the Ethereum roadmap, including the Osaka fork and the technical trade-offs between inclusion lists and long-term privacy solutions like encrypted mempools. Topics 00:00 Intro & FOCIL 04:15 MEV & Centralization 09:30 The Builder-Searcher Pipeline 15:00 Silent Censorship Risks…
People in this episode
Host: Friederike Ernst
Guest: Thomas Thiery
Topics covered
- Ethereum
- centralization
- censorship
- FOCIL
- MEV
- block production
- transaction inclusion
Keywords
- Ethereum
- FOCIL
- MEV
- censorship
- block production
- transaction inclusion
- Tornado Cash
- Osaka fork
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ethereum Foundation
Products: EIP-7805, FOCIL, MEV
Books & works: Tornado Cash
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