Who stole the yield of $ETH? Currently, the Ethereum staking yield has dropped below 3%, lagging behind yield-generating stablecoins at around 4%-6.5% and DeFi lending protocols (such as Aave, Compound). The maturity and differentiation of the Ethereum ecosystem mean it no longer relies solely on staking yields to attract capital but has evolved into a diversified yield market. Most of these high-yield products are still built on Ethereum, transforming it from a direct yield provider to a yield infrastructure layer. Despite the lower short-term yields, users still need to pay gas fees when using these products, indirectly enhancing ETH's value capture ability.

Ethereum's dominance in the DeFi and RWA sectors remains solid, with its security, degree of decentralization, and developer ecosystem still being industry benchmarks. As technologies like Layer 2 scaling and account abstraction mature, Ethereum has the potential to further lower participation barriers, making Ethereum yields no longer just refer to staking returns but to comprehensive yield opportunities across the entire ecosystem. Therefore, despite the pressure on short-term yields, Ethereum still achieves another form of victory by empowering the on-chain yield ecosystem. The answer was originally hidden behind all competing protocols.