THE EVOLUTION OF STAKING: FROM CONSENSUS TO TOKENOMICS

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Staking began as a Proof-of-Stake consensus tool, rewarding validators for securing networks, but has evolved into a core tokenomics mechanism that aligns incentives, accrues value, and empowers governance. With the rise of liquid staking, users gained capital efficiency while networks like Ethereum and Solana expanded staking's utility beyond security, now serving as a foundation for DeFi primitives and long-term holder alignment. On Solana, Jito and Kyros are driving this next phase with customizable infrastructure for liquid and restaking across SPL tokens, enabling projects like Nomu to create “realStaking” models that tie rewards directly to protocol activity instead of emissions.