Ethereum Foundation
13–15 October 2026 · Jesus College
A working session on the Decoupled Consensus specification — closing its research chapter, and opening its review.
Goal
Decoupled consensus (DC) fixes known issues in today’s consensus, paves the way to a post-quantum-ready Ethereum, unlocks future networking and consensus upgrades, and speeds up finality out of the box.
This workshop’s goal is to align on the proposed protocol and specs, identify remaining problems, and kick off a new phase of the effort.
What begins here
Agenda
We tracked open problems on a board, by part of the protocol — available chain, stabilization gadget, finality gadget, healing, and networking. It filled up during red teaming, and the open sessions were scheduled from it to settle as much as we could. All times are local Cambridge time.
Watch recordings (opens in a new tab)Project site (opens in a new tab)PQ workshop (opens in a new tab)
Monday
12Arrivals
Intro
Introductions · setting the stage · defining goals
Leads Ben & Yann
Watch recording: Intro (opens in a new tab)Slides: Intro (opens in a new tab)
DC consensus: overview
The consensus protocol, end to end
Lead RobertoModerator Ben
Watch recording: DC consensus: overview (opens in a new tab)Slides: DC consensus: overview (opens in a new tab)
DC consensus: Goldilocks
The consensus protocol, end to end
Lead FrancescoModerator Ben
Watch recording: DC consensus: Goldilocks (opens in a new tab)Slides: DC consensus: Goldilocks (opens in a new tab)
DC consensus: Goldilocks (continued)
Lead FrancescoModerator Ben
Watch recording: DC consensus: Goldilocks (continued) (opens in a new tab)Slides: DC consensus: Goldilocks (continued) (opens in a new tab)
DC networking: design & benchmarking
Lead SukunModerator Ben
Watch recording: DC networking: design & benchmarking (opens in a new tab)Slides: DC networking: design & benchmarking (opens in a new tab)
Future of fast finality: PQ networking
Aggregator design
Leads Kev & KamilModerator Ben
Watch recording: Future of fast finality: PQ networking (opens in a new tab)
Open session I
Goldilocks vs. the full stabilization gadget · the locking period
Recap
Decisions from day one · which open problems to tackle today
Open sessions II–III (consensus)
Goldilocks vs. the full stabilization gadget · VRF or non-VRF available chain · healing · honest leaking under low participation
Watch recording: Open sessions II–III (consensus) (opens in a new tab)Slides: Open sessions II–III (consensus) (opens in a new tab)
Incentives
Rewards, penalties, participation · inactivity leak
Lead AndersModerator Ben
Watch recording: Incentives (opens in a new tab)Slides: Incentives (opens in a new tab)
Specs, prototyping & the transition
Specs, tests, devnets · from today’s consensus to decoupled consensus
Leads Mikhail, Justin & Thomas CModerator Ben
Watch recording: Specs, prototyping & the transition (opens in a new tab)Slides: Specs, prototyping & the transition (opens in a new tab)
Future of fast finality: PQ networking
PQ strategy · heartbeat · leanVM · aggregator design · optimization
Leads Kev & KamilModerator Ben
Watch recording: Future of fast finality: PQ networking (opens in a new tab)Slides: Future of fast finality: PQ networking (opens in a new tab)
Tens-of-seconds finality with PQ validators
Bounds on fast finality · PQ validator set management · validator priority · consolidation
Lead BarnabéModerator Ben
Watch recording: Tens-of-seconds finality with PQ validators (opens in a new tab)Slides: Tens-of-seconds finality with PQ validators (opens in a new tab)
Lean clients
Experience so far · future direction
Leads Mihir, Mega, Pablo & Locki
Open sessions IV–V (networking)
Aggregation bitfields · advancing heights during a round · 4-slot finality in I* · staggered publishing vs. multiple committees
Watch recording: Open sessions IV–V (networking) (opens in a new tab)Slides: Open sessions IV–V (networking) (opens in a new tab)
Formal verification
Joint session with the FV workshop
Leads Roberto, Francesco & Shouki
Formal verification of consensus protocols (opens in a new tab)A Lean model of decoupled consensus (opens in a new tab)CL client in Lean4 (opens in a new tab)
Open session VI (networking)
Gossip priorities in Prysm on constrained uplinks
Lead Csaba
Watch recording: Open session VI (networking) (opens in a new tab)Slides: Open session VI (networking) (opens in a new tab)
ACDC
Future of fast finality: 1RF
One-round finality · safety gadget · optimistic path · fast/slow path · lean Ethereum · the extremely lean chain
Leads Francesco & YannModerator Ben
Watch recording: Future of fast finality: 1RF (opens in a new tab)Slides: Future of fast finality: 1RF (opens in a new tab)
Security review
What do we need to stabilize DC? Academic review · core dev review · independent formal verification · incentive analysis · DoS vectors · network assumptions · aggregator assumptions
Lead YannModerator Ben
Synthesis
FV workshop & open sessions: what’s settled, what’s still open
Moderator Ben
Conclusions
Working group · commitments · next steps
Lead Ben
Friday
16Farewell
Background
The proposal is public: “Unblocking faster finality with decoupled consensus” (ethresear.ch, March 2026).
Resources
EIP-8453: Decoupled Consensus (draft pull request; discussion on Ethereum Magicians)
Decoupled consensus links (specs, code and background reading, collected by Ben on HackMD)
Practicalities