Aave Founder Stani: EIP-8361 Has Systemic Risks
Aave founder Stani Kulechov published a lengthy article stating that Ethereum's EIP-8361 gradual issuance and burn proposal has systemic issues. The proposal aims to gradually burn consensus layer issuance rewards, reducing the net staking yield to zero when the total staked ETH reaches 60.25 million, about 50% of the total supply.
He believes that the second-order chain effects have not been adequately modeled, and the zero-yield mechanism may exacerbate staking centralization. Household validators may exit first due to fixed costs, while non-yield-driven entities such as ETF issuers, exchanges, and corporate funds remain. The unaffected MEV (Miner Extractable Value) profits will expand the advantages of leading operators; individual stakers face tax and operational risks, with failure recovery periods extended by up to 14 times. The decline in staking yields could cause DeFi to lose its pricing anchor, shifting funds towards stablecoins, with MEV's share rising to nearly 30%, potentially undermining trusted neutrality.
This event-driven analysis leads to a reassessment of Ethereum staking and DeFi pricing expectations, with funds shifting from yield-dependent leveraged strategies to stablecoins or other chains, putting pressure on household validators while benefiting professional operators and proposal supporters.
Source: Public Information
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As the founder of Aave, Stani Kulechov has long relied on Ethereum staking yields as a pricing benchmark for DeFi lending, previously emphasizing ETH's predictable yield advantage over BTC. EIP-8361 was proposed by six researchers, including Justin Drake, aiming to reduce net issuance rewards to zero through a burn mechanism when the staking ratio reaches 50%, to curb excessive staking concentration.
In terms of capital flow, the proposal aims to gradually burn consensus layer rewards to reduce incremental staking incentives, motivated by controlling staking centralization and enhancing ETH scarcity. Resources may shift from overall validator rewards towards MEV and execution layers, potentially accelerating the exit of household nodes and consolidating professional and institutional staking.
Similar cases can be seen in past adjustments to Ethereum's issuance curve and the growth of staking pools, raising controversies about decentralization, as well as the attraction of high-yield chains like Solana to capital. Currently, Ethereum is in a discussion phase transitioning from unlimited staking incentives to setting a saturation point.
Essentially, this represents a transfer of pricing power: staking yields shift from network issuance to MEV and external revenues, with the mechanism cutting off the economic incentive for unlimited staking through burning, causing interest rates to shift from protocol layers to market-driven formations.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
- Zero yields accelerate centralization rather than suppress it.
- Staking yields are the pricing anchor of DeFi.
- Burning issuance changes the incentive structure rather than the essence of security.