TLDR:

• The crypto industry is largely comprised of two types of L1s: a handful of high performers followed by a long trail of much smaller competitors. 

• BNB Chain is positioned extremely well for future growth, combining healthy onchain metrics, a strong track record, and the catalyst of restaking innovation.

• The efficient PoSA infrastructure of BNB Chain is perfect for supporting restaking along with a wave of new projects leveraging efficiency security to build.

• Lista DAO’s slisBNB and clisBNB are popular liquid staking tokens that can be easily  restaked with Kernel.

The Pareto principle is a hidden concept that shapes much of the world around us. Also called the “80/20 rule”, it states that roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. It plays out regularly in the world of crypto, being largely free of regulation or other restrictions that would otherwise distort economic outcomes. When assessing the industry by various metrics, it’s clear that a small handful of L1s do the heavy lifting.

• The Ethereum ecosystem is an absolute DeFi powerhouse with that along with its associated L2s takes an unassailable first place in its influence on the industry. However, being so well established means that future growth may begin to slow.

• The recent rise of Solana has seen it outperform in terms of active addresses and volume, alongside healthy TVL, although its lack of transparency compared to Ethereum has led some to question this performance. It also has a smaller number of protocols.

• Bitcoin is in an challenging position, combining a rock-solid asset with a fledgling ecosystem, as nascent protocols try to navigate in an uncertain environment. There is some resistance within the community to move away from the “digital gold” narrative.

• Tron is somewhat of an enigma that initially found a niche role in low-cost stablecoin transfers. It is also closely tied to the movements of its founder, Justin Sun, who has an outsize influence on the chain. Future innovation is likely to be relatively limited.

These four L1s, plus BNB Chain, are the industry’s 20% of causes that generate 80% of consequences under the Pareto principle. Hundreds of other L1s are either fairly new, relatively small, or have unclear positioning, and comprise an unproductive “long tail”.

Against this backdrop, BNB Chain makes for an interesting choice, with high volume, healthy TVL, and several hundred active protocols. This is the goldilocks zone – not too big so as to be maturing and slowing, but not so small so as to be overly risky. There’s still plenty of opportunity for exciting growth on BNB Chain, and its many years of established history demonstrates its staying power for the long term. Being an EVM-compatible L1 with a high throughput of ~2,000 TPS combined with ultra-low gas fees (~$0.03 per tx), makes it suitable for multiple applications.

For restaking in particular, speed and cost-efficiency matters. BNB Chain makes the experience seamless, meaning higher yield & smoother transactions for restakers. With a $20B staking market cap (#3 globally), BNB Chain offers robust security for projects building infrastructure. Kernel taps into this economic strength, creating a solid foundation for new protocols. It should be no surprise then that teams are queueing up to build on BNB Chain, and Kernel is playing a key part in unlocking a new wave of vibrant expansion.

One of the first protocols to work with Kernel was Lista DAO, a BNB Chain liquid staking solution that has become a key player in the Kernel ecosystem. Depositing BNB tokens with Lista DAO results in your assets being staked with one of the active validators approved by the governance process under BNB Chain’s Proof of Staked Authority (PoSA) which is a mix of Proof of Stake and Delegated Proof of Authority. Staked BNB tokens provide economic security which allows the validators to safely and efficiently produce blocks in a round-robin process, one after the other. This enables BNB Chain’s fast finality. In return, depositors with Lista DAO receive a liquid staking token called slisBNB which appreciated in value against BNB over time, providing staking rewards alongside liquidity. Liquid staking BNB has proved popular, with slisBNB reaching over $380m in TVL.

The liquidity benefits of slisBNB can be reaslised by staking it a second time, via Kernel. This restaking provides additional rewards to depositors, while the slisBNB assets are used to provide efficient security for a wide range of new projects building on BNB Chain. It really is a win-win for everyone involved!

Lista DAO has a second more specialised asset called clisBNB which can also be restaked with Kernel. When slisBNB is deposited with Lista DAO to mint clisBNB, a collateralised debt position (CDP) is created at a fixed ratio. Users can then borrow a stablecoin, lisUSD, against the position, as well as participate in Binance Launchpool rewards simultaneously.

The rapid growth of restaking on BNB Chain shows that the ecosystem is right in the sweet spot, large enough to provide liquidity and security, yet still an exciting frontier of new potential. With Kernel leading innovation in the sector, early participants can enjoy higher rewards before competition and maturity naturally drive returns down over time. By restaking assets like slisBNB and clisBNB, users not only enhance their yield but also contribute to the growth of emerging projects on BNB Chain. This ecosystem is still in its early phases of exponential expansion, making now the perfect time to stay ahead of the curve and benefit from the next wave of DeFi innovation.