Recently, someone asked me again where the returns from LST/re-staking actually come from. To put it simply, there are three sources: underlying staking rewards, service fees collected by renting out the "same security," and a bunch of early project incentives or subsidies squeezed out with points or subsidies. The first two can be considered business, while the third is more like marketing budget; once subsidies stop, you have to face real cash flow.

Don't just focus on the risk of "de-pegging." What's more troublesome is the layering: contract permissions, malicious actions by nodes/middleware, opaque penalty and confiscation rules, who runs first during liquidity crunches, cross-protocol connections causing a chain reaction. Recently, AI Agents and automated trading have been even more exciting; as scripts increase and interactions grow, the safety margins actually become thinner... Anyone can talk about the narrative, but ultimately, it's up to you to scrutinize safety and risk control. Anyway, when I look at re-staking now, I first consider where the money is coming from and who will bear the consequences if something goes wrong, then talk about returns.