Vitalik Buterin Pushes for ETH-Centric Strategy to Boost Ethereum Ecosystem Value

Vitalik Buterin Pushes for ETH-Centric Strategy to Boost Ethereum Ecosystem Value

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has emphasized the importance of scaling plans and network applications prioritizing Ethereum’s native token, ether (ETH), as a way to increase its overall value. In a blog post published on Friday, Buterin advocated for a comprehensive strategy to solidify ETH as a central asset within the broader Ethereum ecosystem.

“We should pursue a multi-pronged strategy, to cover all major possible sources of the value of ETH as a triple-point asset,” Buterin wrote, elaborating on topics like layer-2 scaling, security, and interoperability. He urged the community to support applications that use ETH as the primary form of collateral and to solidify its role as the foundation of both layer 1 (L1) and layer 2 (L2) networks.

Buterin also proposed implementing incentives for layer 2 networks to channel a portion of their fees back into ETH. This could be achieved through mechanisms such as burning fees, staking them indefinitely, or redirecting proceeds toward funding public goods within the Ethereum ecosystem.

These suggestions come amidst increasing scrutiny of the Ethereum Foundation, the nonprofit responsible for supporting Ethereum, as ETH continues to lose ground in market share and investor sentiment compared to its competitors.

The ether-to-bitcoin ratio has fallen to levels not seen since 2021, and while bitcoin recently hit a record high above $109,000 with a 160% return over the past year, ETH has only gained 40% during the same period and remains 30% below its 2021 peak, according to a CoinDesk analysis.

Buterin further proposed increasing the “blob” count on Ethereum while establishing a minimum price for blobs, highlighting their potential as a revenue source. He explained that if the current average blob fee over the past 30 days remained stable and the blob count rose to 128, Ethereum could burn approximately 713,000 ETH annually. However, he cautioned that this optimistic demand scenario was “not guaranteed” and should not be relied upon as the sole strategy to enhance ETH’s value.

Blobs function similarly to standard transactions but include additional data and occupy the mainnet space temporarily, for a maximum of 18 days. Daily blob transactions have surged to an average of 21,000 since November, with Coinbase’s BASE and World Chain contributing 55% of this activity. However, analysts warn that sustained demand for layer 2 solutions could quickly exhaust the available capacity.

By addressing these challenges and opportunities, Buterin’s proposals aim to strengthen Ethereum’s position and ensure ETH remains central to its ecosystem.