Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum’s Fee Burn Was Never a Price Floor. What Is Holding ETH at $2,200?

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his thoughts in a post on November 8, 2026, stating that the Ethereum fee burn “was never a true floor” for the asset’s price. He suggested that investors should view ETH more as a store of value, an asset people hold to maintain wealth over time. The fee burn was linked to the “ultrasound money” concept, which promised that ETH would become increasingly scarce and support its price.

ETH trades at $2,226, down 1.6% over the past week. This figure is about 55% lower than its all-time high of $4,946, reached in August 2025. Even so, ETH has outperformed Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which fell 2.9% this past week, and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), which is down 7.5%. So if the Ethereum fee burn isn’t what’s holding ETH up, what factors are keeping it around $2,200?

Ethereum Has Been Minting More ETH Than It Burns in 2026

The fee-burn mechanism destroys a portion of transaction fees, permanently removing coins from circulation. However, validators, computers that secure the network by locking up ETH, continue to earn new ETH for their efforts. During busy periods, the burn rate can exceed what validators earn, shrinking the supply. In quieter times, however, the supply can grow.

Our analysis from October showed that validators added about 2,600 new ETH daily, roughly 0.8% of the total supply in a year, while burn rates during calm periods only eliminated between 50 and 70 ETH. According to Ultrasound. money, which tracks ETH supply and burn activity, overall supply stopped decreasing in October, reaching a circulating amount of 122,200,877 ETH, valued at approximately $272 billion.

This rise in supply is largely due to lower fees. An upgrade known as Dencun, rolled out in March 2024, slashed fees on layer 2 networks, secondary chains that bundle transactions before sending them to Ethereum, by 90% or more. These lower fees meant less ETH was burned, and supply continued to grow even after the Fusaka upgrade on December 3, 2025, which established a minimum price for layer 2 data transactions.

Buterin pointed out that most burned fees came from internal crypto use, such as trading and borrowing among users. However, trading activity tends to decline when prices drop, weakening the burn mechanism just when support is needed most. Unlike buyback programs like Hyperliquid’s, fee burns eliminate coins without creating buy orders. Most ETH trading occurs off-chain, so supply figures alone can’t show whether investors are actively accumulating ETH or holding back.

Store-of-Value Argument Faces Steady ETF Selling

For ETH to serve as an effective store of value, it requires holders who consistently buy during downturns. Unfortunately, the largest public buyers are currently selling off their holdings. Spot Ethereum ETFs, investment funds that hold ETH and trade like stocks, saw significant outflows of $93.2 million on November 6 and a staggering $365.3 million for the week, leaving them with net assets totaling $12.84 billion.

On a brighter note, staking appears to be stronger. About 35.6% of all ETH was staked, meaning it was locked away to earn rewards, on September 25, when SEC staff said staking doesn’t create securities. However, stakers motivated by yield may unstake and sell their ETH if rewards diminish relative to price risks.

Ethereum continues to dominate the on-chain finance market. Its total value locked (TVL), the dollar value of crypto held within its decentralized applications, reached $43.5 billion out of $81.2 billion across all blockchain networks on November 7, representing around 54%, according to DefiLlama. This number can fluctuate based on token prices and deposits, sometimes exaggerating true commitment when prices rise and understating it when prices fall.

Buterin also noted that optimizing ETH for transaction fees would require substantial spending on protocol changes and constant governance intervention, which involves developers making repeated modifications to increase revenue. Store-of-value assets typically build trust through consistent rules, so Buterin’s argument leans toward a protocol with fewer rule changes. Nevertheless, that trust still has to show up in ETF inflows and stablecoin liquidity.

Returning Cash Could Turn ETH Around

Currently, cash is leaving the crypto market, leading to short-lived rallies. Stablecoins, tokens pegged to the dollar that traders use as liquid cash, dropped by about $5 billion in just one week, as we reported on November 7. With fewer stablecoins available on exchanges, there’s less cash ready to take advantage of price dips.

On the charts, ETH is trading below its 20-day average of $2,324 and its 50-day average of $2,492, and has slipped below the $2,236 low set on November 5. However, it still remains above its 200-day average of $2,156, which is about 3% lower than the current price and represents its nearest support level.

ETH could potentially rebound once ETF inflows and stablecoin supplies start increasing again, as both are important sources of buying orders. Our previous analysis of why Ethereum is stuck pointed to a demand gap, and the November data shows that gap is still not closing.

Is $2,200 a Reliable Support Level for ETH?

At this point, the $2,200 level lacks strong support. While ETH’s relative strength against Bitcoin and XRP, along with the 200-day average, is helping to maintain its position, these factors alone aren’t attracting new buyers. With Buterin’s assertion removing the fee burn as a reason to hold ETH, investors must reassess the asset based solely on its fundamental value and market conditions.

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