--- title: "Draft plan aims to cut Ethereum finality time to about four minutes" description: "CoinDesk reported that Ethereum researchers filed a draft proposing to reduce transaction finality from about 16 minutes to roughly four, a fourfold improvement. Coordinator Ben Edgington filed it with Francesco D’Amato, Roberto Saltini, Yann Vonlanthen and Mikhail Kalinin; the design is unfinished…" language: en canonical: "https://whycoinmoves.com/en/events/ethereum-ethereum-s-four-minute-settlement-6a30c259f39a64" published: 2026-10-22T12:14:57.000Z updated: 2026-10-22T12:20:00.000Z indexable: false --- # Draft plan aims to cut Ethereum finality time to about four minutes CoinDesk reported that Ethereum researchers filed a draft proposing to reduce transaction finality from about 16 minutes to roughly four, a fourfold improvement. Coordinator Ben Edgington filed it with Francesco D’Amato, Roberto Saltini, Yann Vonlanthen and Mikhail Kalinin; the design is unfinished… Attributed sources: [CoinDesk]() ## Key facts CoinDesk reported that Ethereum researchers filed a draft proposing to reduce transaction finality from about 16 minutes to roughly four, a fourfold improvement. Coordinator Ben Edgington filed it with Francesco D’Amato, Roberto Saltini, Yann Vonlanthen and Mikhail Kalinin; the design is unfinished and has no activation date, with voting timings, penalties and parts of its security analysis still unresolved. Evidence strength: Single source, 1 publisher group(s) (CoinDesk); this describes source coverage, not truth or causation. After site detection, observed returns were 5 minutes: +0.05% (difference from BTC -0.01 pp; 22/10/2026, 12:14 → 22/10/2026, 12:19, UTC; Gate · USDT). Unlisted windows are unavailable. In the preceding 30 days, the 99th percentile of absolute hourly returns was 1.46% (OKX · USDT; cutoff 22/10/2026, 12:14, UTC). This hourly baseline is not directly comparable with a minute move. ## Returns after site detection | Window | Return | BTC | Difference from BTC | Actual sampled interval (UTC) | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 5 minutes | +0.05% | +0.07% | -0.01 pp | 22/10/2026, 12:14 → 22/10/2026, 12:19 | Gate · USDT | | 1 hour | — | — | — | — | — | | 24 hours | — | — | — | — | — | ## Historical hourly baseline | Metric | Value | | --- | --- | | Ready | true | | Coverage | 100.0% (720/720) | | Median absolute hourly return | 0.19% | | 99th percentile of absolute hourly returns | 1.46% | | BTC beta | 1.18 | | Source / cutoff (UTC) | OKX · USDT / 22/10/2026, 12:14 | ## Claims and open questions - CoinDesk reported that the draft, filed by Edgington with fellow researchers, targets cutting Ethereum transaction finality from about 16 minutes to roughly four, an initial fourfold improvement. - According to CoinDesk, the proposal splits validators' single vote into separate votes for block selection and finalizing older blocks, so finality could run on a faster, adjustable clock. - CoinDesk reported that Circle's USDC fast route from Ethereum costs 0.01%, or $1 per $10,000, and that a service fronting a steady $1 million an hour would have about $267,000 waiting on repayment with a 16-minute delay versus roughly $67,000 at four minutes. - What timings, penalties and security conclusions the researchers will settle before the draft advances, and whether an Ethereum upgrade would carry the change? - Whether the Ethereum Foundation or client teams have endorsed the proposal, and on what schedule it could be considered for activation? ## Source evidence - [Ethereum’s four-minute settlement plan could lower the cost of moving crypto]() — CoinDesk; published 22/10/2026, 12:14; received 22/10/2026, 12:14 (UTC). ## Recent ETH events and market reactions - [Ethereum postpones Glamsterdam upgrade on Hoodi testnet over contract risk]() — Published 23/10/2026, 04:59 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (2 publishers) · Project updates · 5m +0.18% / 1h +0.24% - [Ethereum developers postpone Glamsterdam upgrade on Hoodi testnet]() — Published 22/10/2026, 00:00 (UTC) · Official source (1 publisher) · General news · 5m -0.08% / 1h +0.06% - [Drift exploit-linked wallets move Ether into Tornado Cash]() — Published 20/10/2026, 12:38 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (2 publishers) · Security · 5m +0.01% / 1h -0.15% / 24h +2.97% - [Bitmine adds 12,535 ETH, reaching 6.04 million tokens in treasury]() — Published 19/10/2026, 15:13 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (2 publishers) · General news · 1h -0.30% - [JPMorgan deploys JPM Coin deposit token on Ethereum mainnet]() — Published 19/10/2026, 17:31 (UTC) · Multiple publishers (4 publishers) · General news · 5m -0.03% / 1h -0.39% - [Full coin archive]() ## Research for this archive - [XRP lawsuit and Ethereum ETFs: reading SEC filings and rulings]() - [Altcoin beta to Bitcoin: BTC, ETH, SOL and DOGE hourly returns]() - [Perpetual funding rates and annualized yield: a 2025 comparison]() - [Crypto listing and delisting effects: an OKX price study]() [Methods and limitations]() Publisher count is not independent evidence count. Price changes cannot verify news or prove causation.