Overview
The Gas Network is a decentralized network designed to bring accurate cross-chain gas estimation data on-chain.
It aims to create an ecosystem of actors incentivized to coordinate on the network's success, enabling composable access to transaction fee data across chains.
The core of the Gas Network is the Gasnet Chain containing gas estimates for all supported chains and a Pull Oracle contract to add desired estimates to any chain.
By making quality cross-chain gas estimations available on-chain, the Gas Network helps users and protocols avoid overpaying or risking failed transactions due to underpaying transaction costs in cross-chain scenarios. This not only reduces costs and risks of cross chain transactions, but also enhances the user experience.
This document outlines the functionalities, actors, and economic model of the Gas Network. The high-level design is captured in this sequence diagram, showing the roles and flows of the Gas Network.
Over the next few months, GasNet will include all the data from our existing permissioned Gas Platform API.
You can also access all Blocknative gas data via the permissioned API and Blocknative’s browser Gas Extension . See our docs at https://docs.blocknative.com/gas-prediction .
Gasnet Chain
Gasnet is a private, permissioned chain acting as the system of record for current and past gas estimation and prediction data.
In the future, we plan to support external validators to progressively decentralized this chain.
Providers, entities that estimate gas on various chains, update the state of Gasnet to reflect their most current and accurate estimates. Since estimates may be updated at least as fast as the block speed of the chain they are estimating, Gasnet must be a fast chain.
Gasnet devnet-0 is an Arbitrum Orbit L3 with a block speed of 250ms. Future devnets and testnets may uses different technology stacks as the team optimizes Gasnet’s operational characteristics.
Providers are whitelisted to use smart contracts on Gasnet to update their data.
In the future, the Gasnet chain will also host aggregation functions that combine data from multiple providers. This enables accurate gas data without relying on a single Provider. See Future Research below.
Pull Oracle
Gas Network uses signed price estimates over standard RPC calls to transport gas estimations from Gasnet to oracles on Consumer Chains.
Consumers are entities that want to access gas estimation data on their Consumer Chain. They do this by fetching gas estimation data from Gasnet via an RPC call and submitting the data to their Consumer Chain using the Gasnet Pull Oracle. This oracle ensures the validity of the data by checking an attached ECDSA digital signature and provides read methods composable into other contracts on the Consumer Chain. The digital signature uses the EIP-712 standard for signing and on-chain verification of complex typed data, guaranteeing message consistency as it moves across chains.
The Gasnet Pull Oracle is currently only available for EVM compatible chains.
Future Research
Provider Aggregation
In future iterations, the Gasnet chain will implement aggregation functions to combine data from multiple Providers. This will enhance the accuracy of gas estimations by reducing reliance on a single source and mitigating the impact of any outliers or inaccurate data submissions. Aggregation methods such as weighted averages or consensus algorithms may be employed to ensure the reliability of the combined data.
Provider Rewards
To incentivize Providers to supply high-quality gas estimation data, a reward mechanism will be introduced. Providers may earn tokens or fees based on the accuracy and timeliness of their estimates. This economic model encourages competition and collaboration among Providers, ultimately leading to more precise and reliable gas data for the network.
Pull from API
Future developments include enabling Consumers to pull gas estimation data directly from an API. This feature will simplify the integration process for applications that prefer to access data off-chain, broadening the usability of the Gas Network. Security measures, such as API keys and rate limiting, will be implemented to ensure data integrity and prevent abuse.
Non-EVM Pull Oracle
Expanding compatibility beyond EVM chains is a key area of focus. Developing a Pull Oracle for non-EVM chains will involve adapting the oracle's design to accommodate different smart contract languages and blockchain architectures. This will allow the Gas Network to serve a wider range of ecosystems, enhancing cross-chain interoperability.
Additional Gas Data
The Gas Network aims to provide additional gas-related data such as historical trends, volatility metrics, and predictive analytics. Offering a richer dataset will empower Consumers with deeper insights, enabling more informed decision-making in areas like transaction timing and cost optimization.
Gas Futures
Exploring the creation of gas futures markets is part of our long-term vision. By enabling users to hedge against gas price volatility, we can provide more financial tools for managing transaction costs. This initiative will involve designing smart contracts that facilitate futures trading and ensuring they integrate seamlessly with existing DeFi platforms.