Ethereum could dip to $1,970 amid Buterin’s fee-burning debate

Key takeaways

• Ethereum (ETH) gained 1.3% on Tuesday following comments from co-founder Vitalik Buterin that initiated a discussion regarding the network’s long-term value proposition.
• Bitmine Immersion Technologies added 9,587 ETH to its treasury, bringing its total holdings to 6.07 million tokens, which accounts for roughly 4.97% of the circulating supply of Ethereum.
• ETH could slide further toward $1,971 if support at $2,101 gives way, while overhead resistance lines up at $2,204 and $2,250.

Ethereum (ETH) staged a modest rebound on Tuesday after facing downward selling pressure a day earlier.

The price action arrived as market participants digested a conversation concerning the asset’s long-term worth prompted by statements from co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Vitalik Buterin questions Ethereum’s fee-burning investment narrative

Buterin asserted that Ethereum’s appeal to investors should center on its capacity to act as a secure, decentralized store of value instead of focusing on the volume of ETH eliminated via transaction fee burning.

Expanding on why I believe “ETH as store of value (SoV)” makes much more sense to focus on than “ETH as fee-burning token”.

Three primary reasons:

1. ETH as fee-burning token never was as strong as it seemed
2. Optimizing for ETH as fee-burning token would demand Ethereum and ETH function in ways that are very hard to make compatible with decentralization and capture resistance.
3. Meanwhile, optimizing for ETH as SoV is aligned with Ethereum focusing on its unique strengths (decentralization and CROPS)

EIP-1559 (including its burn) is fine and good, we should keep them. But we should not feel sad if fee burn is < 10% of breakeven indefinitely; the value of ETH comes from elsewhere.

The core idea: the big thing that people appreciate about Ethereum is decentralization and CROPS. The main pragmatic benefit that these things translate into is stability. SoV is the category where that is not an unneeded extra we merely put effort into for ideological reasons, but rather a pragmatic strength from the perspective of people putting in their assets. And in the era of AI disruption, stability will be highly valued.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 8, 2026

The fee-burning mechanism has served as a central pillar of Ethereum’s investment thesis ever since EIP-1559 debuted in August 2021.

That network upgrade implemented a routine to perpetually discard base transaction fees, shrinking the supply of tokens in active circulation.

During windows of heavy network utilization, burnt transaction fees can outpace newly minted tokens, turning Ethereum’s supply temporarily deflationary.

Even so, Buterin pushed back against this narrative during a Sunday post on X, indicating that market participants have assigned excessive weight to fee burning as an indicator of economic value.

He pointed out that a significant portion of past fee revenue stemmed directly from crypto-native applications, tightly linking it to the wider fortunes of the digital asset sector.

Furthermore, Buterin cautioned that chasing higher fee generation could incentivize inflated transaction expenses, heavier protocol expenditures, and heavy-handed governance models.

Such shifts risk eroding the decentralization and neutrality that set Ethereum apart from traditional financial frameworks.

As an alternative, Buterin suggested that Ethereum ground its long-term worth in core attributes, particularly as artificial intelligence advancement gathers steam.

He drew attention to the CROPS framework, which stands for censorship and capture resistance, open source, privacy, and security.

These traits, according to Buterin, will likely gain prominence in a landscape where AI agents take on greater responsibilities in financial transactions and digital infrastructure.

Bitmine Ethereum holdings reach 6.07 million ETH

Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced on Monday that it gathered an additional 9,587 ETH over the prior week, lifting its aggregate reserves to approximately 6.07 million tokens.

The enterprise’s treasury now comprises nearly 4.97% of the cryptocurrency’s overall circulating supply, estimated at 122.2 million ETH.

This latest acquisition moves Bitmine closer toward its stated goal of securing 5% of the total circulating Ethereum supply.

Alongside its massive holdings, the organization noted it keeps roughly 5.227 million ETH locked in staking configurations via its Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN).

Ethereum price forecast: ETH bears target $1,971 support

The technical outlook for Ethereum remains bearish as the asset trades underneath key Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs).

On the daily timeframe, ETH sits below its 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day EMAs, which are bunched roughly between $2,291 and $2,371.

This positioning underneath major moving averages implies that sellers retain control of the wider market trend, meaning any recovery attempts will likely run into headwinds.

Momentum gauges reinforce this pessimistic bias. The 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovers close to 31, signaling weak demand and hinting that Ethereum is nearing oversold levels.

At the same time, the Stochastic Oscillator rests near 9, pointing to deeper oversold conditions.

Looking downward, Ethereum encounters immediate support near $2,101. A definitive drop below this threshold could speed up losses toward the subsequent major support area at $1,971.

Should sellers keep the upper hand and ETH fail to hold support around $1,971, the correction could extend toward $1,827.

Despite these prevailing bearish indicators, Ethereum could mount a brief bounce if buyers step in to accumulate near current support zones.

The initial notable resistance is found at $2,204, a level ETH must clear to spark any early shift in momentum.

A sustained climb past this barrier could pave the way for a push toward $2,250, followed by the 20-day EMA sitting near $2,291.

Further overhead resistance clusters near the 100-day EMA and the $2,355–$2,371 zone, forming a dense ceiling of supply.

A decisive break above this cluster would signal a more constructive technical turnaround for Ethereum, suggesting selling pressure might be starting to wane.