Recently, I've been seeing everyone talk about LSTs and re-staking, and it feels a bit like the costs of mining back in the day: the returns don't just fall from the sky, someone has to put in money, or someone has to bear greater uncertainty. To put it simply, the basic income comes from staking/block production "normal income," and the extra from re-staking is often just packaging safety/ tail risk and selling it to other protocols, or relying on incentives and subsidies to support it. Once the subsidies stop, it all falls apart.

Others think: adding a few more layers just means earning a bit more interest, since the "main chain is very secure" at the bottom.
In reality: each additional layer introduces more rules and permission points, and if you encounter penalties, contract vulnerabilities, or even hasty governance decisions, losses can accumulate. When liquidity is good, it’s no big deal; during a run on the system, you realize who’s swimming naked.

By the way, thinking about NFT royalties, the ongoing disputes are really about "where the money comes from": if you want creators to earn more, someone else has to earn less or pay more, and secondary liquidity can easily be squeezed. The same applies to LSTs: the smoother the returns, the more likely someone is bearing the less smooth part behind the scenes… I prefer to take it slow, understand the risk boundaries clearly first, and then proceed. That’s all for now.