Vitalik proposes multidimensional Ethereum fees amid record low gas prices

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and researcher Anders Elowsson have introduced a proposal to overhaul how users pay for transactions on the network.

The plan centers around a unified multidimensional fee market, designed to simplify fee calculation and improve economic efficiency across the Ethereum ecosystem.

The proposal arrives during a period of low network fees. Over the past week, Ethereum’s median gas price has consistently remained under 1 Gwei, marking the lowest levels this year.

This context emphasizes the need for a more adaptable and efficient fee structure to support future growth.

Multidimensional fee market

At the proposal’s core is a single max_fee value users set when submitting a transaction. This fee would apply across all network resources, such as computation, storage, and calldata, instead of requiring users to assign different fee limits to each.

By making max_fee fungible across these dimensions, Ethereum can allocate the fee “dynamically” to whichever resource needs it most, optimizing capital usage.

According to the proposal:

“The fee market is further unified in terms of a single update fraction under a single fee update mechanism, generalized reserve pricing, and a gas normalization that retains current percentage ranges while keeping the price stable whenever a gas limit changes.”

Currently, Ethereum operates with separate fee systems: EIP-1559 governs regular gas, while EIP-4844 covers blob gas. This proposal aims to consolidate both mechanisms under the EIP-4844 framework, providing better control over long-term resource consumption.

The multidimensional fee market design allows Ethereum to better adapt to temporary demand spikes while maintaining price stability across various resources.

The first step in the rollout would be to apply this system to calldata, which often affects transaction propagation speed. From there, additional EVM resources could be added over time, using mechanisms that maintain backward compatibility.

Ultimately, this proposal would simplify the user experience and enable more scalability in the future. It would also consolidate fee structures and enable more flexible pricing, laying the groundwork for more predictable and efficient network activity.