Arca CIO Jeff Dorman raised a critical question about the valuation of Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), challenging whether these blockchains should be valued like businesses based on revenue or like nations. His central concern: major Layer 1 networks do not tax the applications built on top of them, potentially limiting long-term value accrual to their native tokens. Dorman illustrated his point with an analogy comparing blockchain ecosystems to uninhabited islands. An island gains significant value through infrastructure development—roads, schools, hospitals, and businesses—which generates tax receipts for the governing entity. However, he argued that ETH and SOL function as currencies within these "islands" without capturing economic value from the applications using the network to create wealth. The core issue remains unresolved: if a blockchain provides the monetary base but fails to extract fees or taxes from dApps leveraging its infrastructure, what intrinsic value does the token hold? This framework challenges investors to reconsider how they assess the fundamental worth of leading Layer 1 assets in an era where application-layer growth often outpaces protocol-level revenue capture.