I think there is no harm on staking if we stake in reliable platform, the only problem if we stake in the platform that made by scammer and our asset will soon be loss. If we are going to stake we need to be careful and do it in a trusted stakes platform because in this case we give them an access to our asset while we put it in thier platform that was very risky in our part so we need to be careful always.
It is very important to know the credibility of the exchanger we use in order to have some assurance.
And absolutely right, staking is not a waste of time especially if we choose the right coins to stake. Unfortunately, many investors fail to do these things but instead, they'll go and choose coins that have been hyped and have questionable offerings (a huge percentage) which most likely it turn scam and leave carrying the money for their investors.