TLDR:

• Vitalik Buterin says ETH’s store-of-value case rests on decentralization, security, and long-term stability.
• Buterin backs retaining EIP-1559 even if ETH fee burns remain under 10% of the break-even level indefinitely.
• He says 2021–2023 fee burns were driven largely by crypto speculation, making them a weak ETH valuation floor.
• Buterin warns a fee-focused model could demand 700,000 ETH yearly for R&D and interventionist governance.

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has argued that ETH should be valued primarily as a store of value rather than through the amount of transaction fees the network destroys. In a November 8 series of posts on X, Buterin outlined three reasons for shifting the focus.

He questioned whether fee burns reliably support ETH’s valuation, warned that maximizing fee revenue could undermine decentralization, and said Ethereum’s security offers a stronger foundation for long-term holders.

However, Buterin stressed that Ethereum should retain EIP-1559, which burns the base fee paid on transactions. He added that holders should not be concerned even if burns remain below 10% of the break-even level indefinitely.

Buterin Questions Whether Ethereum Fee Burns Support ETH Value

Buterin challenged the assumption that annual fee burns establish a dependable valuation floor. Under a simplified discounted-cash-flow approach, burned fees can represent economic value accruing to holders, but that calculation depends on sustainable demand.

He argued that exceptionally high burns during 2021–2023 largely came from activity within crypto, including speculative trading and digital collectibles. If ETH lost 90% of its value, he reasoned, much of the spending power behind those fees could decline alongside it.

Consequently, the apparent valuation floor would weaken during market downturns, precisely when investors would want protection. Although tokenized real-world assets could generate demand from outside crypto, Buterin said mature businesses were unlikely to recreate speculative peaks that once produced roughly $180 million in burns in a single day.

Higher Ethereum Fees Could Threaten Decentralization

Buterin also examined what optimizing Ethereum for fee-based valuation would require. Supporting a hypothetical market capitalization of roughly $270 billion through such a model, he argued, could push Ethereum toward the operating structure of a large corporation.

He estimated that a revenue-driven strategy might require approximately 700,000 ETH annually in protocol-funded research and development. Maintaining that system could also require more interventionist governance over spending and development priorities, creating tensions with Ethereum’s decentralization and resistance to capture.

Higher gas fees would make Ethereum more expensive to use. Buterin warned that this could exclude people who most need private, secure, and censorship-resistant transactions. Ethereum’s EIP-1559 specification confirms that the network burns transaction base fees, while validators receive priority fees. The mechanism reduces circulating supply but does not guarantee that ETH becomes deflationary.

ETH Store-of-Value Case Centers on Security and CROPS

Instead, Buterin connected ETH’s store-of-value potential to Ethereum’s CROPS principles: censorship and capture resistance, open-source development, privacy, and security. The Ethereum Foundation formally established censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security as central priorities in its March 2026 mandate.

For holders, Buterin said the priority is preserving assets reliably over time. That requires conservative security decisions, greater stability in the core protocol, reduced political intervention, and secure private transfers with limited dependence on intermediaries.

He added that holding ETH becomes more useful when assets remain directly on Ethereum’s base layer and can be exchanged without trusted middlemen or used as collateral.

Buterin also connected the argument to potential disruption from artificial intelligence. As technologies and institutions change, he suggested, dependable decentralized infrastructure could become increasingly valuable to people seeking long-term asset protection.

The post Vitalik Buterin Backs ETH as a Store of Value Over Fee Burning in the AI Era appeared first on Blockonomi.

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TLDR:

• Ethereum price hovered near $2,235 while the Ethereum Foundation delayed Hoodi testing, giving developers more time to examine gas-accounting risks.
• EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 alter state-creation and state-access charges, potentially affecting contracts with fixed gas limits or remaining-gas checks.
• Farside Investors recorded $93.3 million in Friday outflows after $99.9 million Thursday, extending a week that saw about $365.2 million leave US spot Ether ETFs.
• Ted Pillows identified $2,200 to $2,250 as the support zone, with $2,350 to $2,400 possible if buyers defend it and $2,000 at risk if they fail.

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Ethereum price hovered near $2,235 over the weekend as developers paused the next Glamsterdam testnet step. The pause concerns gas accounting, not a halt to Ethereum’s live network. The Ethereum Foundation said it will not fork Hoodi until teams address compatibility issues. Researchers found applications that could fail after two proposals change gas calculations. 

Meanwhile, US spot Ethereum ETFs extended a tough run of withdrawals. Farside Investors recorded $93.3 million in outflows on Friday. That left traders watching the $2,200 to $2,250 support area.

Ethereum (ETH) Price

Ethereum Price Meets Glamsterdam Gas Accounting Delay

AllCoreDevs delayed the Hoodi fork after testing identified potentially vulnerable projects. Those applications rely on gas-related invariants that the protocol changes could invalidate. An invariant is a condition developers expect to remain true during contract execution.

EIP-8037 separately meters and raises costs for creating new state. EIP-8038 updates the costs of accessing existing state. The proposed changes aim to align gas charges with the work required by current Ethereum state. They also support a rise in gas limits without ignoring state growth.

For deployed contracts, the risk may lie outside core business logic. Fixed gas stipends, hardcoded gas limits, and remaining-gas assumptions may produce unexpected results. A transaction could fail, an integration could misprice execution, or security checks could behave differently.

The Ethereum Foundation is working with ChainSecurity, Dedaub, and auditors. It has asked developers and auditors to review eight identified invariants. The published repository offers explanations, examples, and prompts for project-level checks. Teams should test contracts and supporting infrastructure before Hoodi receives a revised activation date.

Earlier developer guidance highlighted fixed gas stipends, hardcoded gas limits, and remaining-gas checks as likely trouble spots. The Glamsterdam upgrade re-prices state creation and state access to better reflect resource use. That work does not alter Ethereum mainnet today. It applies to test environments and future deployment planning. Node operators must follow revised client release notes when a replacement Hoodi schedule emerges. It protects applications before the protocol reaches users on the live network.

That decision is a testnet safeguard, rather than evidence of a mainnet interruption. Hegota development continues in parallel, while the Glamsterdam upgrade receives extra scrutiny. The next signals are clear: fixed specifications, fixes for exposed applications, and a Hoodi test. Ethereum price does not track development schedules, but a clear audit outcome can remove uncertainty.

Ethereum Price Tests $2,200 as ETF Outflows Continue

The Ethereum price traded close to $2,235, below the $2,781 resistance area on the daily chart. It had fallen from roughly $2,809 in September. The token remained beneath its 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages. It also stayed below the Supertrend indicator, which signals persistent downside momentum.

Farside Investors logged $99.9 million of aggregate outflows on Thursday, followed by $93.3 million Friday. US spot Ethereum ETFs lost around $365.2 million across the week, their sixth straight week of withdrawals. The figures measure fund subscriptions and redemptions, not a direct forecast for Ethereum price.

Onchain conditions have softened alongside fund demand. Ethereum’s total value locked stood near $43.2 billion, down from almost $50 billion earlier this month. Stablecoin value on the chain stood near $135 billion, also below year-to-date highs. These metrics can move fast, but they indicate reduced capital deployment.

Trader Ted Pillows said $2,200 to $2,250 forms a key support zone. He expects a move toward $2,350 to $2,400 next week if support holds. A decisive break below the zone would keep $2,000 firmly in view. Ethereum price remains caught between that technical level and the unresolved testnet timetable.

The post Ethereum Price Holds $2,200 Support as Glamsterdam Testnet Delays appeared first on Blockonomi.

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