ETHGas Secures $12 Million to Innovate On-Chain Gas Futures

ETHGas raises $12M as Buterin spotlights onchain gas futures

Ethereum blockspace trading platform, ETHGas, has successfully raised $12 million in a seed funding round led by Polychain Capital. This announcement comes shortly after Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, discussed the concept of an on-chain "gas futures" market. He believes such a market could provide users with clearer insights into expected fees and allow them to hedge against future costs.

ETHGas emphasizes the need for a “reimagination of how blockspace is allocated on the Ethereum network” and asserts that its newly launched trading platform is a progressive step in that direction. The platform initially launched with commitments totaling $800 million from validators, builders, and other involved parties.

Vitalik Buterin ETHGas' Ethereum blockspace trading platform. Source: ETHGas

Key Takeaways

ETHGas has raised $12 million in seed funding from Polychain Capital.
Vitalik Buterin suggests on-chain gas futures could enhance fee transparency for users.
The newly launched platform began with $800 million in commitments from participants.
ETHGas aims to make Ethereum faster with its “Real-Time Ethereum” initiative.
The system claims to handle over 10,000 transactions per second, with various types of pre-confirmations available.

The “Real-Time Ethereum” Initiative

Beyond transforming blockspace into a tradable commodity, ETHGas strives to significantly enhance Ethereum's speed through an initiative known as “Real-Time Ethereum.” The platform offers purchasable blockspace commitments called “pre-confirmations,” allowing users to secure transactions at specific timeframes.

ETHGas founder Kevin Lepsoe noted that this solution functions upstream of current block production services, which are often utilized by maximum extractable value (MEV) bots. He explained that Real-Time Ethereum divides blocks into “240 segments of 50 milliseconds each” to provide guaranteed transaction times quicker than the standard block production.

However, Lepsoe acknowledged that there are some potential centralization risks. He indicated that ETHGas could amplify rewards for Ethereum validators by as much as eight to ten times if all Ethereum transactions were made real-time while incentivizing centralization through automated market maker payments for blockspace. He pointed out that centralization is already a concern as current block creators and relays already process around 50% of Ethereum blocks.

Vitalik Buterin Rated data shows that 92.4% of the blocks in epoch 414463 are produced with MEV Boost block production. Source: Rated

Lepsoe mentioned that if ETHGas succeeds, it plans to establish multiple nodes utilizing a leader-election process to address centralization risks. However, he admitted that implementing this would require extra effort and buy-in from the community.

Advanced Transaction Processing

ETHGas claims its platform can manage more than 10,000 transactions per second, allowing users to define block placements. Lepsoe explained that pre-confirmations could encompass entire blocks, enabling users to reserve whole blocks for their transactions or guarantee inclusion in those blocks.

The most advanced form of pre-confirmations includes execution guarantees, which ensure not only inclusion but also a specific price or position within that block. Lepsoe explained, “For instance, I want to execute a set of trades and guarantee that the outcome is X.”

Although execution guarantees have been tested on the mainnet, they are not expected to be fully deployed until January or February 2026. Validators are responsible for ensuring these pre-confirmations, with collateral posted in Ether or restaked Ether through EigenLayer. Should a validator fail to meet their commitment, they may be penalized proportionally to the amount of blockspace acquired, allowing collateral to be transferred to the buyer.

Lepsoe noted that to date, validators have honored around 99.96% of pre-confirmations, though Cointelegraph could not independently verify this claim. “You would need to trust that ETHGas can reliably supervise and enforce the slashing,” Lepsoe stated, adding that this has not presented issues so far.

Related: Ethereum tripling its gas limit is the ‘floor, we can go higher’ — Sassano