Dfinity founder Dominic Williams has renewed his argument that the Internet Computer can still be a contender to become a world computer. His comments came after Vitalik Buterin laid out a different case for Ethereum, one centered on stability and decentralization rather than token burn.
Buterin Puts Stability Ahead of Burn
On November 8, Buterin said ETH should be seen as a store of value rather than a fee-burning token. He argued the burn was never a true floor and that Ethereum’s value comes from its base layer: decentralization, censorship resistance, and security. He warned that pushing for higher burns to support a market cap near $270 billion would make Ethereum act like a world-scale corporation. That, in his view, would cost the network one of its main selling points. He linked stability to what he calls CROPS: censorship and capture resistance, open source code, privacy, and security. He also said EIP-1559 still has value even if the burn is not the main driver.
The numbers add context. Ethereum burned about 1.48 million ETH in 2022, according to the report cited. So far in 2026, the figure is roughly 19,200 ETH. That is a sharp drop in supply removed from circulation. The change does not settle the debate. It does show that fee-burning economics can move a lot with network conditions.
Williams Returns to the ICP Claim
Williams has long said the Internet Computer is more than a network for token transfers. CryptoSlate’s profile notes that he founded Dfinity in 2016, and describes ICP as a blockchain built to run internet-scale applications on decentralized infrastructure. Williams has also talked about joining Ethereum and the Internet Computer in a shared push toward the world computer idea, including at EDCON 2023. His latest remarks put ICP forward as the project still in that race as Ethereum’s best-known voice turns toward stability and security.
That claim is an opinion from the founder of a competing network. It is not an independent comparison of the two chains. Still, the exchange raises a fair question for ICP and ETH holders: should general-purpose blockchains compete most on onchain computation and applications, or on the durability of their base layer? Perhaps both. The answer will likely depend on what users and developers need most at a given time.
