Catenaa, Friday, December 12, 2025-Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has suggested a trustless, onchain gas futures market to help users lock in future transaction fees and reduce volatility.
The system would function like traditional futures markets, letting traders and developers prepay for gas during a specific time period.
Buterin said the mechanism could provide clear signals on expected fees and allow heavy users to hedge against sudden spikes.
The idea responds to repeated questions about whether Ethereum can maintain low and predictable transaction costs as the network scales.
Ethereum fees have eased in 2025, with standard transfers averaging about 0.474 gwei, or roughly one cent, but more complex operations like token swaps, NFT transactions, and cross-chain activity still incur higher costs.
Fee volatility remains a challenge, with swings from $0.18 to $2.60 reported earlier this year.
The proposal comes amid record-low Ether balances on centralized exchanges, which have fallen to just 8.7% of the total supply.
Analysts say the drawdown tightens liquid supply, as more ETH moves into staking, layer-2 networks, DeFi collateral, and long-term custody.
Market observers suggest this could contribute to future supply squeezes and increased demand for predictable fee mechanisms.
Buterin envisions the gas futures market as a trustless, onchain system that provides transparency and risk management tools for developers and traders handling high transaction volumes.
No timeline has been announced for development or testing, and the concept would require network-wide adoption to function effectively.
