Add as a preferred source on GoogleVitalik Buterin Says Ether (ETH) Fee Burns Do Not Set a Valuation Floor
He says growing real-world asset activity gives Ethereum a better claim to backing from outside crypto, though it is unlikely to match past fee spikes.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said fee burns do not give Ether (ETH) a firm valuation floor because most ETH burned in 2021–23 came from activity within crypto.
If ETH’s price falls sharply, the users and applications that generated those fees could have less capacity to pay them, Buterin said. His concern is that fee demand tied to crypto can weaken alongside the asset it is expected to support.
Buterin said growth in the real-world asset (RWA) economy gives Ethereum a better claim to backing from outside crypto. His valuation argument turns on where demand for network transactions originates, rather than the size of past fee burns alone.
He contrasted that potential demand with a digital monkey sale that he said led to $180 million in transaction fees being burned in one day. Buterin said mature RWA activity is unlikely to generate a comparable single-day burn.