The unprecedented success of Base, the Ethereum overlay blockchain owned by Coinbase, has sparked a surge of interest in a new market linked to the fluctuating costs associated with gas fees necessary for network transactions. This novel approach allows speculators to wager on anticipated spikes in utility for this layer 2 system, mirroring the practices found in traditional energy markets.
One company at the forefront of this development is Alkimiya, a startup that has garnered support from prominent investors, including Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly, and Castle Island Ventures. Alkimiya offers a platform enabling users to take positions—either long or short—on the costs of transactions that are included within blocks, known as “blockspace.” This term encapsulates both the storage and computational capabilities essential to a blockchain’s functionality.
Leo Zhang, the founder of Alkimiya, emphasizes the parallels between blockspace and traditional energy costs. “Paying for blockspace is akin to purchasing fuel for vehicles or aircraft,” he remarked in a recent interview. “The traditional energy markets have developed mechanisms that allow airlines to hedge against fluctuating jet fuel prices, and we believe a similar approach can enhance the price discovery for this vital resource—blockspace.”
Since its launch in August 2023, Base has significantly outpaced its layer 2 competitors, amassing more than $14 million in user fees within just a month. This spike in activity leads to significant fluctuations in total gas fees paid to the network, which can vary dramatically from as low as 10 ETH to as high as 200 ETH in a single day.
Interestingly, Base distinguishes itself from many other blockchain projects by not having a native token—and there are no current plans to introduce one. Instead, Alkimiya’s smart contracts allow participants to speculate on disruptions in blockspace costs, potentially driven by artificial intelligence or specific on-chain events such as the launch of popular tokens, NFTs, or airdrops.
Behind the scenes, Alkimiya employs a well-known decentralized finance (DeFi) framework. An oracle closely monitors gas consumption by users on Base, while a series of smart contracts handle the necessary accounting and logic, as explained by Zhang.
“Users can acquire contracts that track the total gas paid to the Base rollup itself,” Zhang elaborated. “This transparency is crucial as it eliminates reliance on centralized exchanges, where operations are often opaque and misunderstood.”
