Buterin proposes on-chain gas futures to stabilise Ethereum fees
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed an on-chain gas futures market as an extension to EIP-1559 that would let users pre-buy gas at fixed prices for future time windows. The design targets high-volume actors — exchanges, rollups, wallets and automation services — converting volatile real-time gas costs into predictable forward expenses. Futures would trade on-chain and reflect market expectations of future blockspace demand, rising when demand is expected to increase and falling when it is expected to decrease. Buterin emphasised the mechanism is complementary to gas-reduction efforts and does not aim to lower base fees directly; instead it provides cost certainty for scheduled deployments, upgrades and enterprise operations sensitive to fee spikes. The proposal could also produce new economic signals useful for capacity planning and scaling. No formal EIP has been filed and there is no implementation timeline. Primary keywords: gas futures, Ethereum gas fees, on-chain futures. Secondary keywords: EIP-1559, fee predictability, transaction costs.
Neutral
The proposal is unlikely to directly change ETH’s base-fee dynamics because it is explicitly framed as complementary to gas-reduction measures rather than a gas-price reducer. For traders, the main effects would be structural and informational: on-chain gas futures could reduce fee uncertainty for high-volume users and create forward-looking price signals about blockspace demand. Short-term price impact on ETH is likely muted because no EIP or implementation timeline exists and the change targets fee management rather than supply or monetary policy. Over the medium to long term, transparent futures pricing could improve operational certainty for services built on Ethereum, potentially supporting higher usage and incremental demand for ETH (neutral-to-slightly bullish). However, any bullish effect depends on adoption by exchanges, rollups and large infrastructure players; if uptake is limited, the practical market impact will be minimal. Risks that could temper positive effects include complexity of implementing secure on-chain futures, UX friction, and the possibility that futures markets concentrate fee exposure rather than broaden participation. Overall, expect improved fee predictability for institutional users with little immediate directional pressure on ETH price.