Recently, someone was talking about LST/re-staking again, and my obsessive-compulsive disorder just wants to clarify where the "money actually comes from." Frankly, most of the returns from LST mainly come from the staked portion, plus some protocol incentives/points or similar; re-staking is more like using the same collateral to endorse other services, offering a bit more reward, but you also take on more layers of risk.

Do the returns appear out of nowhere?
Impossible, they are all paid by others willing to pay for safety/liquidity/narrative.

The risks are pretty straightforward: protocol risk stacking, penalties/liability, redemption queue, and liquidity discount, plus routing slippage that starts to eat into profits... I’d rather have fewer returns but understand the exit paths, depth, and fees clearly. Recently, with the change in interest rate cut expectations, the dollar index and risk assets have started to fluctuate together. The more this happens, the less you should treat "redeemable" as "can sell at any time." For now, I’ll keep watching the pool depth.