Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin backs ETH as store of value over fee burns

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has argued that ETH should be valued primarily as a store of value rather than through transaction-fee burning, questioning a long-standing investment argument built around the cryptocurrency becoming increasingly scarce. Summary Vitalik Buterin argues ETH should prioritize store-of-value properties over maximizing network transaction fee burns indefinitely. Buterin says Ethereum should retain EIP-1559 even when fee burning fails to offset token issuance. Ethereum’s decentralization, censorship resistance, privacy and security underpin Buterin’s preferred long-term ETH investment case today. Buterin argues maximizing Ethereum transaction fees could undermine affordability, decentralization and resistance to external capture. Ethereum’s layer-two growth has reduced mainnet fee burning while developers continue advancing privacy and security. In a post on X, Buterin said Ethereum should focus on decentralization, security and resistance to outside control instead of maximizing the amount of ETH destroyed through network fees. He maintained that EIP-1559 should remain in place but questioned whether fee burning could reliably support the asset’s val...