According to on-chain metrics, Ethereum has officially burned over 6 million ETH since the London hard fork in August 2021, representing a value of more than $18 billion at current exchange rates. The milestone was reached just as the network's recent Fusaka upgrade slashed gas fees to historic lows. However, despite this massive destruction of value, Ethereum's total supply continues to grow at an annual inflation rate of approximately 0.8%.
6.1 Million ETH Destroyed, Fusaka Fuels Fee Compression
Data from ultrasound.money shows that as of December 7, 2025, the cumulative ETH burned since the implementation of EIP-1559 stands at 6.1 million. The recently completed Fusaka upgrade dramatically expanded block data capacity and gas limits, allowing each block to include more call data and rollup blobs. This has pushed Layer 2 fees lower and also alleviated on-chain (L1) gas costs. At 11 a.m. Eastern on December 7, low-priority fees hovered near 0.305 gwei, while high-priority fees were around 0.326 gwei. Transfer costs ranged between $0.005 and $0.02, while smart contract interactions such as swaps, NFT sales, or bridging cost between $0.14 and $0.50 per action — a fraction of what users paid during the 2021 bull run.
EIP-1559: The Engine of ETH Burn
The London hard fork in August 2021 introduced EIP-1559, which replaced the old auction-style fee model with a dynamic base fee that is burned in every block. Over the past four years and four months, this mechanism has erased 6.1 million ETH. The top burner is blob fees, which have torched 1,492,094 ETH alone. Traditional ether transfers follow with 377,388 ETH burned, while the NFT marketplace OpenSea accounts for 230,051 ETH. Decentralized exchange Uniswap v2 has burned 227,337 ETH, Tether (USDT) usage accounts for 211,342 ETH, and Uniswap v1 has destroyed an additional 153,585 ETH.
Supply Still Creeping Higher Despite Record Burns
Despite the 6.1 million ETH burn, Ethereum's net issuance since the London hard fork stands at roughly 4,065,657 ETH, meaning the network has added more coins than it has burned. Under the proof-of-stake (PoS) model, issuance is already far lower than it would be under proof-of-work (PoW). Simulated data indicates that under PoW, Ethereum's annual inflation rate would be 3.499%, and nearly 17 million ETH would have been added to circulation. Yet even with PoS and EIP-1559 combined, the network remains slightly inflationary, with an annual inflation rate of approximately 0.8%. This serves as a reminder that deflation is not automatic; higher transaction activity or further issuance reductions would be needed to flip Ethereum into a deflationary asset.
In summary, Ethereum has made remarkable progress in fee burning and supply management since the London upgrade, but the current burn rate is not yet sufficient to offset validator rewards. The supply expansion trend is likely to persist until Layer 2 activity and mainstream adoption drive significantly higher on-chain fees.