Vitalik: ETH Is a Store of Value as US Midterms Raise Crypto Uncertainty

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said ETH should be promoted as a store of value rather than an asset whose value depends primarily on burned transaction fees. He wrote that the idea of “ETH as a fee-burning token never was as strong as it seemed,” warning that optimizing for fee destruction could undermine Ethereum’s decentralization and capture resistance. Instead, he pointed to the network’s emphasis on “decentralization and CROPS”—censorship and capture resistance, open source, privacy and security—as durable strengths in an era of AI disruption.

Buterin’s argument reflects changing economics since the EIP-1559 upgrade in 2021, which briefly pushed Ethereum into deflationary territory and fueled the “ultrasound money” narrative. Median Ethereum transaction fees reportedly fell from 35 cents in January to 3.5 cents in October, even as daily transactions increased by more than 50%, making the original fee-burning thesis less sustainable. Proponents say the protocol has not materially changed its monetary policy since the 2022 Merge and that subsequent changes reduced, rather than increased, issuance.

The proposal drew pushback from Bitcoin holders, with Held Media founder Dan Held accusing ETH of pivoting toward Bitcoin’s store-of-value narrative after earlier narratives failed. He argued that a protocol with a changing monetary policy could not qualify as “sound money.” Ethereum advocates were more positive: MetaLeX attorney Gabriel Shapiro called the shift a “nature is healing moment,” while Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said Buterin was right that “you can’t focus on fees as the product.”

Crypto’s broader outlook remained uncertain after the US midterms, with the industry spending a reported $176 million across 100 seats, including $64 million in a failed effort to keep Sherrod Brown out of the Senate. ETH traded at $2,129.06, down 4.69%, while Bitcoin stood at $74,455.94, down 1.76%, as investors assessed the election’s implications for crypto regulation. The combination of Ethereum’s evolving store-of-value pitch and an unsettled policy environment left the market focused on whether ETH can establish durable utility beyond fees.