Ethereum Co-Founder Proposes Revolutionary Gas Futures Market to Tame Wild Network Fees

Ethereum's notorious fee volatility might finally meet its match. A core architect of the network has unveiled a radical proposal: a dedicated futures market for transaction costs.

The Fee Rollercoaster

Gas prices on Ethereum swing like a pendulum, frustrating developers and users alike. One day it's cheap, the next it's a small fortune just to send a token. This unpredictability acts as a brake on mainstream adoption, turning simple transactions into high-stakes guessing games.

Futures as a Shock Absorber

The proposed market would let users lock in future gas prices today. Need to execute a complex DeFi operation next month? Hedge against a potential fee spike by buying a contract now. DApp developers could budget operational costs with certainty, bypassing the spot market's chaos. It's a classic financial instrument repurposed for crypto's most persistent pain point—because what's innovation without a little speculation on the side?

The Mechanics of Calm

Implementing this requires deep protocol integration and robust oracle systems to settle contracts. It wouldn't eliminate fee spikes but would distribute their financial risk across a market of willing participants. Critics whisper about complexity and new vectors for manipulation, while proponents see it as the logical evolution of a multi-billion dollar ecosystem learning to manage itself.

If successful, it could cut the anxiety out of using the world's leading smart contract platform. If it fails, well, add it to the pile of clever financial products that promised stability and delivered a whole new way to lose money. The network grows up not by eliminating volatility, but by letting you bet on it.

TLDR

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed an onchain gas futures market to help users lock in transaction fees at set prices for future time periods.
• The system would work like traditional futures markets, allowing users to hedge against price spikes and giving the ecosystem a clear signal of expected future gas costs.
• Current Ethereum gas fees average around $0.01 for basic transactions but have shown frequent volatility throughout 2025, ranging from $0.18 to $2.60.
• The proposal aims to help heavy network users like traders, builders, and institutions plan their operation costs with more certainty.
• An onchain futures market would let users pre-pay for block space at fixed prices, protecting them from sudden network congestion and fee increases.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested a new system for managing transaction costs on the network. He posted about creating an onchain futures market for gas fees on Saturday. The proposal aims to give users more certainty about future transaction costs.

VITALIK JUST DROPPED A BIG IDEA FOR FIXING ETH GAS FEES

Vitalik is proposing a futures-style gas market for #Ethereum. Users and developers could lock in gas prices ahead of time instead of rolling the dice every time the network gets busy.

Right now, gas volatility is one of… pic.twitter.com/Dph3E17F6U

— CryptosRus (@CryptosR_Us) December 8, 2025

Buterin said the crypto community needs a “good trustless onchain gas futures market.” Many people have asked him about fee certainty as ethereum continues to grow. His proposal focuses on letting users lock in prices for specific future time periods.

We need a good trustless onchain gas futures market.

(Like, a prediction market on the BASEFEE)

I've heard people ask: "today fees are low, but what about in 2 years? You say they'll stay low because of increasing gaslimit from BAL + ePBS + later ZK-EVM, but do I believe you?"…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 6, 2025

The system would function similar to traditional futures markets. In those markets, contracts let buyers purchase assets like oil at set prices in the future. The Ethereum version would do the same with gas fees.

Users could buy contracts for block space at fixed prices. When that time window arrives, they WOULD use the space regardless of current network demand. This protects them from sudden price spikes during busy periods.

Buterin explained that a working futures market would provide clear signals about expected future fees. Users could hedge against price increases by essentially prepaying for gas in specific time intervals. The entire process would happen onchain with full transparency.

Who Benefits From Gas Futures

Heavy network users would gain the most from this system. Traders running automated systems need predictable costs for their operations. Builders and applications require stable expenses for planning budgets.

Institutions looking at Ethereum also want cost certainty. A futures market would let these groups hedge their risk. They could plan operations without worrying about sudden network congestion pushing fees higher.

The proposal arrives when Ethereum gas fees show mixed patterns. Basic transactions currently cost around $0.01 according to Etherscan data. More complex operations like token swaps cost about $0.16 and NFT sales run around $0.27.

Average fees across all transaction types started 2025 at $1. They have since dropped to $0.30. However, the path included spikes up to $2.60 and drops as low as $0.18 according to Ycharts data.

How the Market Would Operate

The futures market would create a marketplace for buying and selling future gas prices. Buyers purchase contracts for block space at predetermined costs. Sellers earn by accurately predicting future network demand.

Both sides benefit from the arrangement. Buyers get locked prices and protection from volatility. Sellers profit from their market predictions. The onchain nature ensures transparency for all participants.

The market could integrate with existing DeFi tools. Developers might build dashboards and aggregators to simplify the process. This would make gas hedging accessible even for less experienced users.

Buterin outlined one potential market structure for Ethereum Base fees. These fees represent a key component of total gas costs. A reliable futures system would give the ecosystem a metric to plan around.

The proposal remains in early stages. The Ethereum community needs to study and test the concept. Implementation would require careful review and risk analysis before any deployment.

Current Ethereum transaction fees sit at 0.474 gwei for basic operations at the time of Buterin’s post.