Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed creating an onchain futures market for gas fees, aiming to give users more predictability as network adoption grows.
In a post on X on Saturday, Buterin said Ethereum needs a “good trustless onchain gas futures market,” responding to ongoing questions about whether current roadmap changes can guarantee consistently low fees.
He suggested that such a system could let users lock in gas prices for specific future time periods. One example he outlined involves creating a market for Ethereum Base fees — the core component of overall gas costs.
How an Ethereum Gas Futures Market Could Work
Traditional futures markets allow participants to buy or sell assets like oil at a fixed price for future delivery, giving traders opportunities to speculate and producers a way to hedge risk.
Applied to Ethereum, a gas futures market would operate similarly. Users could purchase gas at predetermined prices for designated future windows, offering protection against potential fee spikes and providing more stability as demand on the network increases.
A robust and trustworthy gas futures market could become a crucial reference point for the Ethereum ecosystem, offering a clearer basis for speculation, planning, and development.
“Buterin explained that an onchain gas futures market would give users a reliable indicator of expected future gas fees. It would also let them hedge against volatility by effectively prepaying for a specific amount of gas within a defined time window.”
Such a prediction-style market would be especially valuable for high-volume participants—traders, developers, applications, and institutions—who depend on predictable operating costs.
Ethereum Gas Fees Have Declined in 2025
Buterin’s proposal comes as Ethereum’s average gas fees continue trending downward in 2025. Basic transactions currently cost around 0.474 gwei, or roughly $0.01, according to Etherscan.
More complex activities, however, still carry higher fees. Token swaps average about $0.16, NFT sales around $0.27, and bridging assets approximately $0.05.
Despite the broader downward trend, Ethereum fees have remained volatile. Ycharts data shows the year began with an average fee of $1, which has since fallen to about $0.30. Along the way, costs have spiked as high as $2.60 and dipped as low as $0.18, underscoring the need for new tools to stabilize user expectations.
