Buterin's recent discussion focused on gas futures markets potentially giving users clearer fee signals while enabling hedging of future costs.
Ethereum News
Ethereum blockspace trading platform ETHGas announced a $12 million seed round led by Polychain Capital as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently discussed on-chain gas futures markets. The funding supports the company's vision for reimagining blockspace allocation on the network through tradable commitments.
The platform launched with $800 million in commitments from validators, builders, and other participants, according to the company. ETHGas argues that Ethereum needs fundamental changes to how blockspace gets allocated across the network, positioning its trading platform as addressing this need.
Buterin's recent discussion focused on gas futures markets potentially giving users clearer fee signals while enabling hedging of future costs. The Ethereum co-founder's comments reignited broader debate around fee-hedging mechanisms and on-chain futures products for network resource management.
ETHGas aims to make Ethereum significantly faster through an initiative called Real-Time Ethereum, which splits blocks into 240 pieces of 50 milliseconds each to achieve sub-block guaranteed transaction times. Founder Kevin Lepsoe stated purchasable blockspace commitments called pre-confirmations allow participants to secure execution at defined time points.
The implementation operates upstream of current block production services routinely used by maximum extractable value bots. Lepsoe explained the system results in almost zero MEV and an Ethereum that feels fast with effectively 50-millisecond block times, though the company can go faster with thresholds generally 99.9% supported.
ETHGas claims the system processes over 10,000 transactions per second with user-defined block placement. Pre-confirmations can cover whole blocks, allowing users to acquire entire blocks to fill as desired, top-of-block reservations, or guaranteed inclusion, though capacity remains limited until more validators onboard.
Execution guarantees represent the third pre-confirmation type, where inclusion and specific prices or positions within blocks get guaranteed. Lepsoe cited examples like running bundles or trade series while ensuring results match expectations, with execution guarantees tested on mainnet but not deploying broadly until January or February 2026.
Validators guarantee pre-confirmations and can post collateral as Ethereum or restaked Ether through EigenLayer. If agreements aren't honored, validators face slashing proportional to acquired blockspace amounts, with collateral transferable to buyers, according to Lepsoe. The founder acknowledged centralizing vectors exist in the system, noting blockbuilders and relays like Titan and Ultrasound already process perhaps 50% of blocks on Ethereum, indicating centralization concerns already exist. ETHGas would set up multiple nodes with leader-election processes to mitigate risks if successful, though such initiatives require additional effort and community engagement.
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