Ethereum Lists Frame Transactions for 2027 Upgrade, Users Won't Need ETH for Gas Fees

Ethereum core developers have included EIP-8141 (Frame Transactions) in the 2027 Hegotá upgrade plan. During the core developers call on August 27, the proposal was marked as "Scheduled for Inclusion," meaning it will become part of the network update rather than just a candidate. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, one of the proposal's 10 authors, said in an X post on Sunday evening that Frames has made significant progress over the past few months. Frames aims to solve the problem where users' wallets hold stablecoins but cannot transfer funds due to a lack of ETH. It breaks transactions into independent steps such as authorization verification, fee payment, and instruction execution, so the sender and the payer account no longer need to be the same. For example, a payment application can cover fees itself, or collect stablecoins from users and settle the ETH bill on their behalf. The Ethereum network still prices in ETH, but users do not need to purchase ETH. Unlike existing wallet solutions that rely on third-party services, Frames will achieve this capability through Ethereum's normal transaction flow. Additionally, Frames will bundle operations that only need to be executed simultaneously, such as authorization and submission in token transactions, with authorization being revoked if the transaction fails. It also allows accounts to customize transaction approval rules, enabling key changes or adoption of quantum-resistant keys without migrating funds to a new address. The specification is still a draft, and details may be adjusted before the Hegotá upgrade. Users cannot use Frames yet.