The third time I see someone treating LST/re-staking as "passive income," I still want to pour cold water on it... The returns are basically just a few bucks: the basic staking yield, the subsidies earned by selling security, plus some incentives from protocols to boost TVL. The first two parts I can understand, but the third really depends on sentiment; after the incentives are gone, it might just cool off.

The risks are also quite straightforward: layered smart contracts + external strategies, where one problem can spread to others; there's also the risk of penalties and related issues—if an extreme situation occurs, everyone might rush to withdraw, and liquidity can become painfully thin. Recently, retail investors have been complaining about validator income, MEV, and fairness in transaction ordering, and I can empathize. The more the returns are squeezed, the more people might chase "that higher point," exposing themselves to even more complex pitfalls... Anyway, I’m still mainly watching fee rates and retention, slowly picking up shells.