2026-01-21 21:20:33

Recently tracking the fluctuations in yields of certain BNB staking income assets, I suddenly thought of a question: if an income protocol's entire narrative is tied to passive returns, how far can it really go? To put it simply, the source of the returns is not entirely in their own hands.

Some leading staking protocols have indeed captured initial popularity and liquidity through their income products, which is a good move. But the real test comes afterward—how to inject more of the protocol's own distinctive value into the product. For example, deeply integrating ecosystem governance, rights systems, or granting certain identities and attributes.

Ultimately, it's about building the protocol's "soft power" and ecosystem barriers. When users hold because they believe in the entire ecosystem and long-term plans, rather than just chasing the volatile annualized yield, the user base will truly stabilize. From the perspective of industry product iteration and partnership strategies, many teams are actually working hard in this direction.

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DoomCanister

· 1h ago

Well, to put it simply, the interest-earning protocol is just relying on its reserves; the real competitiveness still depends on the ecosystem.

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ETHReserveBank

· 3h ago

It took me a while to understand that the pure profit play is just about harvesting wool. What happens after the wool is harvested? Relying solely on annualized rates can't keep people engaged; you still need ecological imagination. This logic makes sense, but how many protocols are actually doing it now... probably still a minority. When the yield drops sharply, you can see who is swimming naked. Ecological barriers > pure profits; this should have been thought of earlier. When the APY drops, you'll know who the true fans are. That's reasonable, but to be honest, how many protocols' governance rights are really valuable right now?

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ForkMaster

· 01-21 21:50

A sudden fluctuation in returns and then running away—that's the fate of passive income narratives. The money for raising three kids relies on protocols to generate value, but the project team itself hasn't even figured out how to inject ecological value for users, which is ridiculous. The truly reliable approach should be like arbitrage from forks, finding the protocol's own wealth code, rather than obsessing over that superficial annualized rate every day. Speaking of which, there are actually a few teams these days seriously working on building ecological barriers, but most... are just telling stories.

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RadioShackKnight

· 01-21 21:50

Once the returns drop, people start to leave. This kind of user base is inherently fragile. Ecosystem barriers are fundamental; simply playing the APY game won't last long.

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StakeOrRegret

· 01-21 21:50

That's so true. Users attracted solely by yields tend to run as soon as the market moves, and can't be retained. This wave of staking enthusiasm can indeed be blinding, making people think they can make money just by lying around, which really makes me laugh. The key still depends on whether the ecosystem can truly give back; just having numbers is useless.

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BridgeNomad

· 01-21 21:45

yield chasing without protocol defensibility is just asking for the rug, ngl. seen this movie before—when rates compress, liquidity vanishes faster than you can say "exploit postmortem"

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ShortingEnthusiast

· 01-21 21:44

Uh, I just want to ask, with the annualized rate down, can people still be retained? --- That's right, pure profit vampire projects will eventually fail. --- The key is whether the ecological value can be realized; it all seems to be hype. --- The governance token approach is coming again, and it's still inevitable to be cut like chives. --- Currently, top protocols are indeed building ecosystems, but execution varies greatly. --- Returns are king; soft power can't compete with real money. --- That's why it's important to see how many tokens the team still has left; don't be fooled by empty promises. --- With BNB ecosystem so competitive, it's hard to say who can truly stand out.

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