Staked Ether Becomes Benchmark for Decentralized Economy

Crypto has evolved from a speculative frontier into a functioning economic system with its own financial plumbing and capital markets.

The decentralized economy has effectively produced its own benchmark, meaning a standard against which other financial instruments within the ecosystem can be compared.

Staked ether (the yield produced by ether tokens when they're locked in the Ethereum network to secure the blockchain) has become this benchmark, offering an average 2.75% yield per year, as illustrated by CoinDesk's Composite Ether Staking Rate (CESR).

This means that crypto firms and tokens are in constant competition with staked ether, needing to prove they can generate better returns.