Buterin argues ETH’s value should rest on security, not fee burns

Vitalik Buterin argued that ETH’s long-term value should be based mainly on Ethereum’s security and resilience rather than the amount of transaction fees burned. He said EIP-1559 should remain even if fee burns stay below break-even, while warning that pursuing fee revenue could pressure decentralization. A separate report noted that a proposal to burn more validator rewards was withdrawn after pushback.

• Buterin said ETH’s store-of-value case rests on Ethereum’s security and decentralization, and argued that fee burns are an unreliable valuation floor because past high burns were largely tied to crypto speculation.· 1 source
• He backed retaining EIP-1559 even if fee burns remain below 10% of the break-even level indefinitely, and warned that a fee-focused strategy could require about 700,000 ETH annually for research and development.· 1 source
• The Block reported that a proposal to burn a rising share of validator rewards as more ETH is staked was withdrawn last month after pushback.· 1 source