Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed the creation of an on-chain gas futures market to help users secure predictable transaction costs as Ethereum adoption accelerates. The idea, shared in a detailed post on X, aims to give traders, developers and institutions a reliable tool to hedge against future gas fee volatility.
Buterin said the ecosystem needs a “trustless onchain gas futures market”, noting that community members regularly ask whether current roadmap strategies can guarantee consistently low fees. He believes the futures model could offer long-term clarity as Ethereum scales.
How a Gas Futures Market Would Work
Futures markets in traditional finance allow buyers and sellers to lock prices for assets such as oil or commodities at a future date. Buterin suggests applying the same principle to Ethereum gas fees, specifically the base fee component that determines total transaction costs.
Users could purchase gas for future time windows at fixed rates, enabling them to avoid sudden spikes during high-demand periods. This would also create an open market where participants can see expectations for future gas prices and hedge accordingly.
According to Buterin, such a system would give businesses, trading platforms, DeFi applications, and institutions a clearer operational forecast, especially those relying on high-volume transactions.
Gas Fees Continue Declining in 2025
Buterin’s proposal comes at a time when Ethereum gas fees have dropped significantly. Data from Etherscan shows basic transaction fees averaging around 0.474 gwei, or roughly $0.01.
However, more complex operations such as token swaps ($0.16), NFT sales ($0.27) and bridging assets ($0.05) still see occasional cost fluctuations.
Despite the overall decline, volatility persists. Data from YCharts shows the average Ethereum fee fell from $1 at the start of 2025 to $0.30, with sharp surges up to $2.60 and drops as low as $0.18 throughout the year.
Buterin believes a futures market could smooth these unpredictable movements and provide a more stable environment for heavy network users.