Chainfeeds Introduction:
Many people view Vitalik Buterin's emphasis on ETH as a "world ledger" as a completely new strategic adjustment, but in fact, this transformation was completed the moment EIP-1559 went online. The 50% exclusive share of stablecoins on ETH only reinforces its positioning as a financial settlement layer.
Article Source:
https://x.com/tmel0211/status/1936332460846940199
Article Author:
Haotian
Perspective:
Haotian: The core of EIP-1559 is not to reduce gas fees, but to redefine the value capture mechanism of the ETH mainnet, establishing a new model where ETH no longer captures value through increased transaction gas consumption. Previously, all transactions (DeFi, Non-Fungible Token, GameFi, etc.) were crowded on the mainnet, causing significant ETH gas consumption, with nearly thousands of ETH burned daily in 2021. At that time, the ETH mainnet was congested, and Layer2 had to join the gas war when submitting batch data for verification on the mainnet, with high and unpredictable costs. However, EIP-1559 changed the game rules: after introducing a predictable base fee mechanism, the batch submission cost of Layer2 on the mainnet became stable and controllable. This directly lowered the operational threshold for Layer2, allowing more Layer2 to rely solely on ETH for final settlement. On the surface, EIP-1559 facilitated Layer2, but in reality, it deeply transformed ETH's value capture logic: from a consumption-driven growth dependent on high-frequency mainnet transactions to a tax-driven growth dependent on Layer2 settlement needs. According to defillama data, the global stablecoin total market value currently exceeds $250 billion, with ETH monopolizing 50% of the share, and this proportion has not decreased but increased after EIP-1559's launch. Why can ETH attract such capital? The answer is simple: an irreplaceable security premium. Specifically, USDT has deposited $62.99 billion on ETH, USDC has $38.15 billion, compared to only $10.7 billion in stablecoins on Solana and $10.4 billion on BNB Chain, which together don't even match a fraction of ETH's amount. The question is, why do stablecoin issuers choose ETH? Certainly not because it's cheap or fast, but solely because the economic security provided by nearly $100 billion in ETH staking is unmatched, with the cost of attacking ETH being prohibitively high - a crucial consideration for institutions managing tens of billions in assets. With massive stablecoin funds deposited, the ETH ecosystem forms a self-reinforcing growth flywheel: more stablecoins → deeper liquidity → more DeFi protocols choose ETH → more stablecoin demand → attract more capital inflow. From this perspective, stablecoins' large-scale aggregation on ETH is actually a result of global liquidity voting with their feet and a market confirmation of its world ledger positioning. When the ETH mainnet focuses on being a central bank-level settlement layer, the strategic positioning of the entire ETH ecosystem becomes clear: Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism handle high-frequency transactions, while the ETH mainnet concentrates on final settlement, with clear and efficient division of labor. Each settlement from Layer2 back to the mainnet continues to Burn ETH, accelerating this deflationary flywheel. You see, at this point, many ETH defenders would be heartbroken. If that's the case, why haven't Layer2s contributed to mainnet deflation, but instead become vampires draining the mainnet's value? The actual data is brutal: the previous mainnet's daily burn of thousands of ETH is gone. Now? Daily burn has drastically reduced, sometimes not even reaching a few hundred ETH. Meanwhile, Arbitrum processes millions of transactions daily, Base has become a super-profitable machine through Coinbase's traffic, and Optimism is also earning abundantly. Where's the problem? Users have all moved to Layer2, leaving the mainnet an empty city. Layer2 collects millions in fees daily for themselves but pays minimal "protection fees" to the mainnet.
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