this forum post by @kubimensah, @alextes, @lepsoe & @drakefjustin is very interesting, here’s a binji-fied summary of it: note: don’t shoot me, i am just summarizing. ethereum sells one thing: blockspace (aka trustware) ether is the price of that thing (aka digital trust). if lots of people want blockspace and the system charges them cleanly and predictably, ether goes up in value. if the system is messy, confusing, or leaks value, ether stays cheaper than it should be. right now, ethereum makes very good blockspace and it is secure, neutral, hard to shut down. that part is solid. the problem highlighted in the post, however, is how this blockspace is sold. > fees can get weird. > users may sometimes overpay just to get included. > builders and relays take some value in ways that are hard to see. > apps cannot reliably know when their transaction will land so everyone bids defensively. demand does not show up cleanly in fees if pricing is unclear and when fees do not reflect real demand, $eth does not reflect real demand either. the post is basically saying: ethereum can become better at charging for something people really want. note: ethereum already has demand the paper is not worried about that. it is saying the system just needs to let that demand show up more clearly. if ethereum improves how blockspace is priced and guaranteed, a few things happen: > people pay for certainty instead of guessing. > fees better match actual demand. > more value flows into fee burn and validators. > ether becomes more tied to real usage okay so..how? one idea is clearer price discovery: if users and apps can see what inclusion actually costs, they will stop panic bidding. fees could start to reflect a real willingness to pay instead of fear. another is inclusion guarantees and preconfirmations: if you can know your transaction will land when you expect, you pay for certainty and so this turns blockspace into something you can plan around vs gamble on. they also talk about pushing risk away from users: builders and specialized actors are better at managing uncertainty than everyday wallets. letting them offer things like hedging or forward pricing can smoothen demand and stabilize fees. finally, they call for sustainable incentives for relays and builders: if the middle layers are healthy and decentralized, value does not leak or concentrate quietly. more of it flows back to validators and burn. lots more info on he actual post, but TLDR: ethereum does not just need more users to justify ether’s value. it also needs a better way to sell what users already want.