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Georgetown, Cayman Islands, April 15th, 2026, Chainwire
The three-year deal commits $3Bn in ETH to ETHGas’ High Performance Staking Service and marks a major step toward forward pricing infrastructure for Ethereum’s growing institutional settlement layer.
ETHGas, a performance infrastructure bringing forward markets and execution guarantees to Ethereum, and ether.fi, the leading onchain banking alternative and non-custodial staking protocol, today announced a $3Bn commercial deal to advance the development of institutional-grade blockspace markets on Ethereum.
The Gap in Ethereum’s Market Infrastructure
Ethereum currently allocates blockspace through a real-time spot auction with no mechanism for forward pricing, pre-purchase, or execution guarantees. Every block is contested at the last second, leaving validators with unpredictable revenue, applications without certainty of execution, and institutions without the risk-management tools to operate at scale. As throughput grows and institutional activity accelerates, evidenced by over $25Bn in ETH held across institutional vehicles, the absence of a forward market for blockspace becomes an increasingly critical gap in Ethereum’s financial infrastructure.
How ETHGas Solves This For Wall Street
ETHGas creates an exchange layer where validators can pre-sell future block inclusion rights, and buyers, including rollups, traders, solvers, and onchain applications, can purchase guaranteed execution in advance. This introduces a forward curve for Ethereum blockspace, enabling genuine price discovery for the network’s most fundamental resource and the risk management tools institutional participants require to operate at scale on Ethereum.
Building the Supply Side
A forward market for blockspace only functions with deep, committed validator participation behind it. ether.fi, with over 2.8M staked ETH under management and one of the largest validator footprints on Ethereum, brings exactly that. Its $3Bn commitment to ETHGas’ HPS service establishes the supply side foundation the market needs to offer credible execution guarantees to institutional buyers, rollups, and onchain applications at scale.
“Every major commodity market in history has moved from spot to futures. Ethereum blockspace is next. ether.fi’s commitment gives us the validator depth to make that market real, and with it, the foundation for Ethereum to function as a settlement layer for global institutional capital,” said Kevin Lepsoe, Founder and CEO of ETHGas.
Partnership Terms
Under the agreement, ether.fi has agreed to commit approximately 40% of its current ETH holdings, equivalent to $3Bn, to ETHGas’ High Performance Staking (HPS) Service for a term of three years, deployed immediately upon execution. ether.fi has also agreed to use ETHGas’ preconfirmation platform exclusively during the term. Commitments are subject to ongoing performance thresholds, and the parties may expand the partnership’s scope and scale under a separate agreement.
The three-year structure reflects the scale of the infrastructure being built. Establishing a deep, liquid market for blockspace futures takes time, but the payoff extends well beyond institutions, validators, and traders. Enterprise and developers building on Ethereum gain something they never had before, the ability to design applications around guaranteed execution timelines and predictable transaction costs. This changes what is possible to build, supporting Wall Street’s tokenization scale-up and Ethereum’s use in consumer applications where transaction costs, like electricity, become an “invisible” cost to the consumer.
“Committing validator capacity to ETHGas is a direct extension of our mission to maximize what staked ETH can do. Preconfirmations improve execution certainty for our users, and participating in a structured forward market for blockspace opens yield opportunities that have never existed before. We are building for where Ethereum is going, not where it is today,” said Mike Silagadze, CEO and Founder of ether.fi.
The partnership sets a precedent for how major ETH holders can participate in the next phase of Ethereum’s development. As tokenized assets move onchain at scale and institutional demand for predictable, reliable execution grows, blockspace becomes a critical infrastructure layer for global financial markets. ETHGas and ether.fi’s commitment marks the beginning of a broader effort to build the validator depth and market structure Ethereum needs to meet that demand.
About ETHGas
ETHGas is a settlement infrastructure for Ethereum blockspace commitments. ETHGas transforms how users interact with Ethereum by enabling low-latency, 3ms settlement times and a comprehensive product suite centered on precision and predictable order execution. ETHGas’s mission is to advance Ethereum into a real-time network, unlocking the next stage of its evolution. ETHGas envisions a future where end-users can shield themselves from gas price volatility, unlock opportunities for additional yield, and enhance their experience within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Users can follow ETHGas developments on X (Twitter) or contact ETHGas directly with any enquiries
About ether.Fi
ether.fi is the fastest-growing onchain banking alternative with the leading crypto credit card by spend volume, Cash. What started as a restaking protocol has grown into a full financial platform — DeFi-native and mainstream users alike use our vaults, staking, and credit card products to bridge their on-chain and off-chain financial lives. ether.fi excels at helping users earn and spend on their crypto with ease and peace of mind.
More information about ether.fi and their latest developments on X (Twitter) and their website.
Contacts
Wahaj Khan
wahaj@serotonin.co
Nathan Galindo
nathan@ether.fi
Disclaimer
This article is provided for information only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
