Summary
Ethereum scaling plans and network applications should start supporting the network’s native ether (ETH) to further bump value for the asset, co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote in a post on Friday.
“We should pursue a multi-pronged strategy, to cover all major possible sources of the value of ETH as a triple-point asset,” Buterin stated in a broader discussion about layer-2 scaling, security, and interoperability. “Agree broadly to cement ETH as the primary asset of the greater (L1 + L2) Ethereum economy, support applications using ETH as the primary collateral.”
Buterin called for implementing incentives for layer-2 networks to allocate a portion of their fees to ETH through mechanisms like burning fees, permanently staking them, or redirecting proceeds towards public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem.
His comments arise amid increasing criticism of the Ethereum Foundation, which supports Ethereum, as the asset loses market cap to competitors.
Bitcoin has reached a record high, but Ether has lagged behind despite an increase in value of just 40% in the past year, approximately 30% below its peak in 2021.
Another point raised was the need to enhance Ethereum’s blob count while establishing a minimum price for blobs as yet another potential revenue generator.
“If you take the average blob fee of the last 30 days, and suppose it stays the same (due to induced demand) while blob count increases to 128, Ethereum would burn 713,000 ETH per year,” Buterin indicated. He also mentioned this favorable demand curve is not guaranteed and should not be the only strategy to boost ETH’s value.
Translation: “If you take the average blob fee … such a favorable demand curve was ’not guaranteed’…”
Blobs are distinct from regular transactions as they do not permanently occupy space on the main network and are available for only 18 days. Since November, daily blobs have averaged a record 21,000, with Coinbase’s BASE and World Chain accounting for 55% of that activity. Sustained demand for Layer 2s could quickly deplete available capacity.
