TL;DR
- Ethereum Institutional expressed its support for EIP-8198, a proposal aimed at reducing block times from 12 to 10 seconds.
- Ethlabs published an article backed by 20 DeFi founders supporting the “Quick Slots” initiative to speed up the Ethereum network.
- The proposal could be included in the Hegotá upgrade, scheduled for implementation in late 2026 following the Glamsterdam update.
The nonprofit organization Ethereum Institutional expressed its support for the motion presented by Ethlabs to reduce block times on the ETH network, citing the growing volume of institutional activity migrating to the chain.
Through a post on X, the organization summarized its stance in three words: “Make Ethereum faster,” arguing that the reduction is necessary to sustain the demand generated by this new user profile.
The initiative in question is EIP-8198, also known as “Quick Slots,” which proposes reducing block times from 12 to 10 seconds in a first phase.
— Ethlabs (@ethlabs_org) September 17, 2026
Last Thursday, Ethlabs published an article backed by 20 DeFi protocol founders who expressed strong support for the measure. Ethlabs also reported that it is integrating the proposal’s specifications with the main codebase and investigating potential dependencies that could affect its scope within the Hegotá upgrade.
Ethereum Has an Unexpected Competition
Competitive pressure on the ecosystem is a determining factor in this debate. Solana reduced its slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 ms in August, and in June the Solana Foundation announced plans to bring it down to 200 ms, citing improvements in latency and confirmation speed.
On the other hand, the majority of Zcash holders recently backed a reduction in the target block time from 75 to 25 seconds. The pattern is already clear: networks are speeding up, or at least setting out to do so, and Ethereum cannot afford to fall behind the advances.
EIP-8198 was drafted in March and was proposed for inclusion in Hegotá during the developers’ meeting on August 6. Ethereum developers could begin implementing that upgrade toward late 2026, once Glamsterdam is completed, considered one of the most important upgrades of the year for its focus on scalability and the strengthening of the main network.
The timeline is tight, but the consensus around the need to accelerate the network appears to grow stronger with each passing week.
