Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has suggested the development of an on-chain futures market for gas. This innovation could provide users with greater certainty regarding transaction fees as the network's adoption continues to grow.
In a recent post on X, Buterin expressed the need for a "good trustless onchain gas futures market." He noted that he has been frequently asked about the certainty of low gas fees through current price reduction methods within Ethereum's roadmap. Buterin outlined a potential solution: enabling users to lock in prices for specific future periods, with a particular focus on Ethereum's Base fees, which are a significant component of overall gas costs.
Mechanism of an Ethereum Gas Futures Market
A futures market traditionally allows participants to buy or sell assets, such as commodities, at a predetermined price for future delivery. This mechanism enables investors to speculate on price movements and producers to mitigate future price risks.
Applying this concept to Ethereum, a gas futures market would offer gas fees at fixed prices for specific future time intervals. This would allow network users to potentially avoid higher costs if gas prices surge unexpectedly.
The establishment of a robust and dependable futures market would serve as a crucial indicator for the ecosystem, facilitating speculation, planning, and development.
Buterin elaborated, stating, "An onchain gas futures market would help solve this: people would get a clear signal of people’s expectations of future gas fees, and would even be able to hedge against future gas prices, effectively prepaying for any specific quantity of gas in a specific time interval."
Such a prediction market would offer a vital service to high-volume network users, including traders, developers, applications, and institutions, who require predictable operational costs for future planning.
Declining Ethereum Gas Fees in 2025
Buterin's proposal comes at a time when Ethereum's average gas fees for basic transactions are approximately 0.474 gwei, equivalent to $0.01 at the time of reporting, according to data from Etherscan.
For more intricate transactions, such as token swaps, NFT sales, and bridging assets between networks, the average costs are currently around $0.16, $0.27, and $0.05, respectively.
While Ethereum transaction fees have generally decreased throughout 2025, the average costs for various transaction types have experienced significant volatility, with notable spikes and dips. Data from Ycharts indicates that the average fee began the year at $1, has since fallen to approximately $0.30, and has seen peaks as high as $2.60 and troughs as low as $0.18 during this period.
