The 70-years old history behind Tramplin
Premium Staking by @Tramplin_io is the final form of the premium bonds issued by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) a UK government-owned savings institution with over 70 years of history.
UK Premium Bonds (Since 1956)
Launched by Harold Macmillan as "saving with a thrill." Instead of earning predictable interest, your yield funds a monthly prize draw. Your principal stays 100% government-backed.
Premium bonds are particularly popular amongst the elderly trying to leaving generational money for their family
The expected value is actually slightly lower than a savings account. But participation rates are dramatically higher because humans love asymmetric upside when there is no downside.
The key regulatory insight: Premium Bonds are not classified as gambling because you never risk principal. You are just choosing to receive your "interest" in probabilistic form rather than deterministic form.
Dedicated premium bonds prize checker app for UK citizens
With over 22 million holders and more than £134.6 billion invested as of December 2025, premium bonds are among the most widely held retail savings products in the UK.
Principal Protected Notes (1980s-2000s)
Wall Street figured this out too. A bank takes your principal, puts most of it in zero-coupon bonds that mature back to your original amount, then uses the remainder (the yield) to buy options or other upside exposure.
At their peak, PPNs were a hundreds-of-billions market. Particularly popular with retail investors who wanted market exposure without stomach-churning drawdowns. The psychology was simple: "I might miss gains, but I will never lose what I put in."
The 2008 crisis actually validated the concept. PPNs backed by solid collateral performed as promised. The ones that failed were tied to Lehman, where the "protection" was just Lehman's promise, not actual collateral.
The lesson: the protection mechanism matters more than the promise.
The Psychology of Safer Risks
Humans do not experience money symmetrically.
Losing money feels about twice as painful as gaining the same amount feels good. That imbalance shapes how people decide, hesitate, and opt out. Most crypto products ignore this. They use excitement and the promise of upside to push you past your natural resistance to loss. Mostly it works. In bull markets that is.
Whereas in contrast, the success of premium bonds/staking comes from a different but powerful combination:-
Strong capital protection, which builds long-term trust + Regular chances at meaningful rewards, which add excitement to saving. This creates asymmetric upside while keeping the downside unchanged. Looks too good to be true.
For smaller holders, safe and predictable staking can feel underwhelming. This is the audience they target. Designed around how humans actually feel about money.
"Your principal is sacred. Your curiosity is unlimited. Gamble with your stake, without risking it."
Your brain visualizes principal as a stored labor and your yield is future possibility. They deserve to be treated differently.
Protocols should not suppress the desire to explore and participate. That approach fails. The protocols with lockups have much less traction than protocols where you can withdraw anytime. If a platform is too restrictive, people leave and take risks elsewhere.
Gamified yield META
Tramplin finding pmf is just the start. More creative ways to play with your yield will come. In all verticals. Solana doesn't even have a standardized protocol for separating yield from the capital yet. Marinade Recipes only has USDG, Zeus allows only ZBTC. (If there is one i dont know about please lemme know)
@chrisdotsol and me imagined premium bonds onchain a few months back, and the launch of tramplin feels validating the thesis.
bonz; our implementation of premium bonds on solana
$5.6B in yield annually (at average Solana stakers earn ~7% APY) sits idle in wallets or gets sold for SOL they already have. [source: trust my onchain calculations bro]. Yuge yield market just waiting to be gamified.