LST/re-staking those returns, are they really "growing out of thin air"?

Honestly, no, the gains are all on the sheep: some are basic staking rewards, and some are safety fees/incentives others are willing to pay, but the latter are more like promotional coupons—once used up, they’re not as attractive anymore.

Lately, I’ve been monitoring TVL like taking a temperature; when it’s hot, everyone talks about "portfolio returns," but when it cools down, they start listing disclaimers... The risks of re-staking are pretty straightforward: as the chain grows, small-probability events like penalties, contract bugs, or liquidity crises get bundled into "it will happen eventually." And that psychological gap of "I thought I could withdraw anytime, but actually I have to queue" is quite real.

It’s also interesting to compare RWA and US Treasury yields with on-chain yield products—off-chain is interest, on-chain often feels more like "subsidies + sentiment." I’m too lazy to write APY in my comparison tables now; I’d rather clarify who pays the returns and who takes the blame if something goes wrong... That’s how I’ll do it for now.