These days I've been running tasks on a few L2s again, and I casually checked out the LST/staking projects. To be honest, most of the returns aren't just handed down from the sky: some are genuine rewards for validation/staking at the underlying layer, while many others actually come from "people willing to pay for security/exposure/incentives." When new L1/L2 projects launch incentives to boost TVL, it's normal for old users to complain about mining, selling, and profit-taking because that money often comes from subsidies to generate hype.

The risks are pretty straightforward: stacking the same collateral repeatedly, on-chain contracts, operators, price feeds/liquidations, cross-chain bridges, and "sudden rule changes" all count as sources of risk. To put it simply: the more like a freebie the returns seem, the more likely it is that one day you won't be able to harvest and might even get re-harvested. I'm currently testing with small amounts, focusing on exit strategies—preferably ones that can be redeemed with a single click—so as not to lock up liquidity.