Where Does Restaking Yield Actually Come From?

[chainsniff]

One of the biggest questions surrounding restaking is deceptively simple: where does the yield come from? In healthy financial systems, returns are tied to productive activity—lending, fees, or real network usage.

Restaking, however, often relies on synthetic incentives: token emissions, venture-subsidized rewards, or fees paid in volatile native tokens. The same collateral is counted multiple times, creating the illusion of productivity without generating new economic value.

That doesn’t make restaking malicious—but it does make it fragile. As DeFi matures, sustainability will likely favor models where yield is clearly tied to onchain utility, not recycled incentives. The future may lie in simpler systems that prioritize clarity, aligned incentives, and real usage over inflated TVL.

[etfs]

real defi yield = fees, lending, network usage. restaking yield = printed tokens + borrowed hype.