> Stocks are supported by the productive capacity of the business in question, ultimately; crypto doesn't work that way (at least not at present, maybe one will in the future).

Ethereum's revenue is the transaction fees it collects for people to use the network. Its expenses are the rewards it pays out to miners and stakers. Its profit is the difference between the collected fees and rewarded fees.

This difference between collected fees and rewarded fees is "burned", or ceases to exist. The process shares some similarities with stock buybacks.