【Vitalik redefines $ETH : You don’t need to make money from transaction fees to become a trillion-dollar collateral asset】
Compared with relying on transaction-fee burns to support its value, Vitalik now believes ETH should be viewed more as a store-of-value asset. The reason is that Ethereum shouldn’t sacrifice decentralization, censorship resistance, or security just to increase the amount burned. What the real-world financial system truly needs is trustworthy foundational infrastructure.
This logic is easier to understand in the age of tokenization and AI. As assets such as stocks, bonds, and funds increasingly move on-chain, financial institutions will need more than just trading platforms. They’ll also need stable, trustworthy settlement networks and foundational assets that can be staked and used as collateral. ETH has the opportunity to evolve from network fuel into an important reserve asset for the on-chain financial system.
Tom Lee is clearly betting on this path, too. Bitmine currently holds 6.07 million ETH, or 4.97% of the total supply, of which more than 5.22 million have already been staked. However, ETH is still under pressure around $2,100, and the increase in institutional holdings hasn’t stopped its price from falling. This suggests the market hasn’t fully embraced this valuation thesis yet.
This shift is a positive for ETH’s long-term narrative: in the future, the focus need not be solely on the amount of transaction fees burned; it should also be on whether demand for ETH as collateral can continue to grow. The real test is whether growth in tokenized assets can translate into actual demand for ETH, rather than simply giving holders a bigger story to tell.
Compared with relying on transaction-fee burns to support its value, Vitalik now believes ETH should be viewed more as a store-of-value asset. The reason is that Ethereum shouldn’t sacrifice decentralization, censorship resistance, or security just to increase the amount burned. What the real-world financial system truly needs is trustworthy foundational infrastructure.
This logic is easier to understand in the age of tokenization and AI. As assets such as stocks, bonds, and funds increasingly move on-chain, financial institutions will need more than just trading platforms. They’ll also need stable, trustworthy settlement networks and foundational assets that can be staked and used as collateral. ETH has the opportunity to evolve from network fuel into an important reserve asset for the on-chain financial system.
Tom Lee is clearly betting on this path, too. Bitmine currently holds 6.07 million ETH, or 4.97% of the total supply, of which more than 5.22 million have already been staked. However, ETH is still under pressure around $2,100, and the increase in institutional holdings hasn’t stopped its price from falling. This suggests the market hasn’t fully embraced this valuation thesis yet.
This shift is a positive for ETH’s long-term narrative: in the future, the focus need not be solely on the amount of transaction fees burned; it should also be on whether demand for ETH as collateral can continue to grow. The real test is whether growth in tokenized assets can translate into actual demand for ETH, rather than simply giving holders a bigger story to tell.