The base fee paid on every transaction is sent to a burn address, a mechanism that allows the native asset, ether, to practically behave like gas in a car. More importantly, the burn counteracts the inflation caused through block rewards and helps support the longevity of both the Ethereum network and its native asset. The recent market downturn has taken a toll on crypto markets, with ether (ETH) off its November high by 36% at the time of writing.