Ethereum News: Frame Transactions Added to 2027 Upgrade Plans

Ethereum News: Frame Transactions Added to Ethereum’s 2027 Upgrade Roadmap

Ethereum wallets can hold stablecoins and other tokens yet remain unable to transfer them if they do not have enough ETH to pay network fees. Because Ethereum currently requires gas fees to be settled in ETH, users must obtain ether before they can send their assets.

Developers have proposed a solution for Ethereum’s planned 2027 Hegotá upgrade. However, the change would not replace ETH as the network’s fee currency. Instead, it would allow another party to cover the gas cost on a user’s behalf.

ETH is trading just below $2,500 at around $2,480, down 0.9% over the past 24 hours. Despite the daily decline, the cryptocurrency remains up 0.3% over the last week. Daily trading volume has climbed to $10.8 million from $9 million a day earlier.

Frame Transactions Move Closer to Ethereum’s 2027 Upgrade

Ethereum core developers moved EIP-8141, also called Frame Transactions, to “Scheduled for Inclusion” during the Aug. 27 All Core Developers Execution call. The designation formally places the proposal within the planned Hegotá upgrade instead of keeping it in the consideration stage.

Hegotá is expected in 2027 and will come after Glamsterdam, Ethereum’s next major network upgrade. Ethereum typically bundles protocol improvements into named upgrade cycles, and Frame Transactions is now included among the changes targeted for Hegotá.

However, being scheduled for inclusion does not mean the proposal is finalized. EIP-8141 is still a draft, meaning its technical specifications could change before implementation. Frame Transactions are also not available on Ethereum mainnet at this time, with additional development and testing required ahead of the proposed deployment.

How Ethereum’s Frame Transactions Would Work

EIP-8141 is designed to address a common problem for wallets holding stablecoins or other tokens: having assets available but lacking ETH to pay for the transaction.

The proposal introduces a transaction structure called “Frames,” which separates authorization, fee payment and execution into distinct components.

Under the model, a payments application could sponsor the ETH gas cost or otherwise manage the network payment for the user. This means the account authorizing a transaction would not necessarily have to be the same account responsible for paying the fee.

Validators would continue receiving fees in ETH, but users could potentially complete transactions without first purchasing ether themselves.

Some wallet providers already offer sponsored transaction functionality. EIP-8141 seeks to bring similar capabilities directly into Ethereum’s standard transaction framework. The proposal has 10 authors, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who recently drew attention to the updated EIP specification.

More Flexible Transactions and Account Rules

The Frame Transactions design divides a transaction into multiple stages. One frame can establish the user’s authorization, another can arrange payment of the network fee, and later frames can execute the requested operations.

This structure allows the account initiating an action to be different from the account covering the gas expense. It can also combine several actions into one transaction. For example, if a trade fails, an associated approval could potentially be rolled back within the same transaction.

The proposal also gives accounts greater control over their validation requirements. Users could change keys or adopt alternative signature systems without having to create an entirely new address.

Another potential benefit is support for quantum-resistant cryptography. Accounts could eventually adopt stronger cryptographic methods while keeping the same address, bringing elements of account abstraction into Ethereum’s standard transaction process without requiring users to migrate their assets.

Frame Transactions Would Not Remove ETH From Ethereum

The proposal does not eliminate ETH from Ethereum’s fee system. Instead, it changes who can pay the gas bill.

Even when a transaction is sponsored, the underlying network fee would still be paid in ether. For instance, a user could compensate an application in stablecoins while the application handles the corresponding Ethereum gas payment in ETH.

This could reduce the need for individual users to maintain an ETH balance while keeping ether as the protocol-level asset used for transaction fees.

Ethereum already supports similar functionality through systems such as ERC-4337, UserOperations, bundlers and paymasters. The key difference with EIP-8141 is that comparable programmable transaction capabilities would become part of Ethereum’s native transaction flow rather than relying exclusively on external infrastructure.

The main limitation remains the proposal’s development status. Although Frame Transactions has been scheduled for the Hegotá upgrade, EIP-8141 is still a draft and its technical design could change before Ethereum targets deployment in 2027.

About The Author