Recently, someone asked me again where the "profits" from LST/re-staking come from. To put it simply, the main sources for LST are still validator rewards plus a little MEV; the rest depends on how the protocol subsidizes and how it packages "security" to sell to other services. Re-staking is more like repeatedly pledging the same collateral; the apparent returns seem to stack up, but so do the risks: penalties and confiscations, smart contract/intermediate layer failures, liquidity tightening causing de-pegging, and on-chain data changing suddenly, making it hard to run.

These days, public opinion is linking ETF capital flows, risk appetite in the US stock market, and the rise and fall of the crypto market, which sounds smooth, but what I care more about is: when "risk appetite drops," who is forced to sell, and whose redemption channels will get blocked? Anyway, when I look at returns now, I first ask: whose money is paying, and why are they willing to pay… As for which trap you think is the easiest to overlook?