"Staking" was definitely not invented by this protocol as a term, and is not really related to the consensus protocol, barring the fact that you lock up ("stake

"Staking" was definitely not invented by this protocol as a term, and is not really related to the consensus protocol, barring the fact that you lock up ("stake") some underlying token in a smart contract. Various protocols offer staking as a way to lock funds, which might distribute a pre-existing token allocation to the people staking as a form of interest. This could be done for a myriad of reasons, like getting a governance token in exchange, or in order to limit the liquidity/dumping of new tokens. I can't say that I were too well versed on what has been happening in the defi space in the last year, but it's definitely not a new term.