Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum's Fee Burn Was Never a Price Floor. What Is Holding ETH at $2,200? - 24/7 Wall St.

Ethereum (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 (BTC), which fell 2.9% this past week, and 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?

Supply Growth Undermines Fee Burn

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

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, 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 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.

ETF Outflows Pressure Price

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 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.

Market Conditions Offer Mixed Signals

On a brighter note, staking appears to be stronger. About 35.6% of all ETH was staked 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) 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.

Stablecoins, tokens pegged to the dollar that traders use as liquid cash, dropped by about $5 billion in one week. With fewer stablecoins available on exchanges, there's less cash ready to take advantage of price dips. ETH is trading below its 20-day average of $2,324 and its 50-day average of $2,492, but remains above its 200-day average of $2,156, which 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. The November data shows that the demand gap identified in previous analysis remains unclosed, leaving investors to reassess ETH based solely on its fundamental value and market conditions.