Vitalik Buterin Urges Valuing Ether as Store of Value Instead of Fee-Burning Token

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that Ether should be valued primarily as a decentralized store of value rather than relying on EIP-1559 fee-burning mechanics. Buterin warned that attempting to justify Ethereum's roughly $270 billion market capitalization through protocol revenue would demand burning about 700,000 ETH annually, risking centralization and reducing validator revenue by two-thirds. With recent fee burns offsetting just 2.07% of issuance, down sharply from 1.48 million ETH burned in 2022 to roughly 19,200 ETH year-to-date, Buterin emphasized that ETH's long-term thesis hinges on security, censorship resistance, and base-layer stability rather than deflationary supply dynamics.