Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is proposing a new mechanism to alleviate the spike in transaction costs on the network.
His latest proposal outlines a reliable on-chain prediction market designed to allow users to secure future gas prices and manage volatility.
Buterin, Ethereum gas price market support
On December 6, Buterin argued that Ethereum needs a market-based signal to predict future demand for block space.
This structure will allow participants to trade exposure to the network's base fee by buying and selling gas contracts linked to future windows.
According to him, the goal is to enable developers and high-volume users to lock in costs and plan even when spot gas prices are low.
This proposal comes at a time when gas prices are nearing their lowest levels in years.
According to Etherscan data, the average gas price on Ethereum is about 0.468 Gwei, which is approximately 3 cents. This is due to most network retail activities migrating to cheaper layer 2 networks like Base and Arbitrum.
However, Buterin argues that the current calm leads to complacency.
He emphasizes that the on-chain futures curve will clearly show long-term market expectations. Users will be able to prepay for block space and fix costs regardless of future spikes.
"People can clearly understand their expectations for future gas fees, and they can hedge future gas prices by prepaying for a specific amount of gas over a certain time interval," he said.
Presentation of industry expert opinions
Supporters view this proposal as an undervalued pillar in Ethereum's long-term design. They argue that a reliable gas futures market will fill structural gaps.
From their perspective, the BASEFEE market will align expectations with transparent pricing and provide shared reference points for future network conditions in the ecosystem.
Thus, a liquid market for gas exposure could lead to dynamic changes by allowing developers to purchase gas insurance to limit operational costs before major events. High-volume users can take opposing market positions to offset future fee spikes.
"If Ethereum becomes the payment layer for everything, gas itself becomes a financial asset. Therefore, having a reliable gas futures market is not just a nice-to-have; it seems like a natural evolution of the chain aiming for global coordination," the analyst said.
Meanwhile, an industry advisor from Titan Builder mentioned that operating as a classic derivatives market would be challenging because validators could create empty blocks to manipulate outcomes.
He added that a futures market for block space with liquidity is feasible. Such a structure could be sufficient to support public price discovery and hedging.
