Staking Rewards: Is Crypto Staking Killing Decentralisation? - Mirko Schmiedl & Tobias Jung

Apart from incentivising market participants to secure the network through inflationary rewards, many consider staking as an equivalent of stock dividend yield. As a result, although Bitcoin is regarded as digital gold, protocols are looking for ways to increase its utilisation in DeFi and, ultimately, generate yield. Nowadays, while newer networks are struggling to attract investors and sustain a healthy, decentralised validator set, more established blockchains capture the lion’s share of PoS actors. However, in a constant race for profit basis points, centralised consolidation of stakers seems inevitable. Join us for a fascinating discussion on the staking landscape and the challenges it may present to decentralisation.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Increasing BTC utilization through BTC yield
• Looping yield products
• The maturation of the staking market
• Chorus One staking portfolio
• How to prevent staking consolidation
• Retail vs. institutional-grade operators
• Symbiotic, Eigenlayer & restaking yield

Episode links:

• Mirko Schmiedl on X
• Tobias Jung on X
• Staking Rewards on X

Sponsors:

• Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io
• Chorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.one

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture.