Recently, someone asked me again where the "profits come from" for LST/re-staking.

I'm just someone who watches the mempool, and my understanding is pretty rough:
The basic part is like the "salary" of the chain, and re-staking more is like using the same credit to do multiple jobs.
The money either comes from protocol subsidies/marketing incentives or from you taking on risk for others and earning "overtime pay."
The problem is that the risks also stack up: if the smart contract explodes, becomes de-pegged, gets penalized or confiscated, or liquidity is drained and the system stalls, it feels even more intense than short-term trading...
It kind of looks like a blockchain game setup—inflation subsidies plus studio involvement, tightening the screws on the token price, and in the end, everyone is asking where the money went.
Anyway, whenever I see high yields now, I ask first: who is paying, and why would they pay long-term?
That's all for now.