This shift, which made it so validators are rewarded with both protocol emissions and priority transaction fees, also unlocked something perhaps less obvious but absolutely groundbreaking for Ethereum: the introduction of a native interest rate. Staking ether (ETH), the ecosystem’s native token, now pays an interest rate. This forms a sort of bedrock layer – similar to the role interest rates play in traditional finance – that could power a new, global staking economy. For this to work, though, there must be a reference rate, so investors know what the benchmark is at any given time – a reliable number derived by observing the mean, annualized returns across a comprehensive validator population.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/09/27/five-reasons-why-the-world-needs-a-standardized-ethereum-staking-rate/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines