The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is currently calling for the use of a new mechanism to mitigate sudden increases in transaction costs on the network.
His latest proposal outlines an on-chain, intermediary-free prediction market designed to help users secure future gas prices and manage volatility rather than react to it.
Buterin supports the Ethereum gas market
This Saturday, December 6, Buterin argued that Ethereum requires a market-based signal for future demand for block space.
The structure would thus allow trading exposure to the network's Base Fee by letting participants buy or sell gas commitments tied to a future time window.
According to him, the goal is to provide developers and large users with a way to lock in costs and plan ahead, even when the spot price of gas remains low.
This proposal comes at an unusual time, as gas prices reach multi-year lows.
Etherscan data shows that the average gas price on Ethereum is around 0.468 Gwei, which is about three cents. This is because a large portion of individual activity on the network has shifted to cheaper Layer 2 networks like Base and Arbitrum.
Yet, Buterin argues that the current tranquility fosters complacency.
He emphasizes that an on-chain futures curve would provide a clear signal of long-term market expectations. This would allow users to prepay for block space and lock in costs, regardless of future increases.
"People would have a clear signal of future gas fee expectations and could even hedge against future gas prices by effectively prepaying for any specific amount of gas over a specific time interval," he said.
Industry experts are divided
Proponents see this proposal as an underestimated pillar of Ethereum's long-term design. They argue that a gas futures market without intermediaries would fill a structural void rather than introduce a new DeFi novelty.
In their view, a BASEFEE market would align expectations with a transparent price and give the ecosystem a shared reference point for future network conditions.
Thus, a liquid market for gas exposure could change this dynamic by allowing developers to purchase gas insurance to cap operating costs before critical events. Large users could also offset future fee spikes by taking the opposite market position.
"If Ethereum becomes the settlement layer for everything, then gas itself becomes a financial asset. So yes, a gas futures market without intermediaries is not a 'nice-to-have.' It feels like a natural evolution for a blockchain aiming for global coordination," said the analyst.
In parallel, an industrial advisor at Titan Builder noted that operating this like a classic derivatives market would be difficult as validators could manipulate the results by producing empty blocks.
He added that a delivery futures market for block space with a liquid secondary venue remains feasible. Such a structure could suffice to support public price discovery and hedging.
