Focus Group - SPOs - 3rd April 2025

Data Points

Key Learnings

🏗️ User Issues & Running a Node

  • Installation is easy for experienced SPOs, but less so for newcomers.

  • Voting as an SPO is risky & labour-intensive (moving hot/cold keys); inconsistent methods add complexity.

  • Dead pools with inactive stake are a persistent problem — they reduce network efficiency and distort staking incentives.

  • SPO profitability is under threat:

    • Decline in staking rewards faster than new fee mechanisms can compensate.

    • Negative feedback loop: less staking participation → fewer rewards → less staking.

    • Lack of users; difficulty attracting new delegators.

  • Competition from exchanges & other networks makes it hard to attract/retain delegators.

  • Staking is currently competing with dApps for user capital — staking being "risk-free" discourages capital use in dApps.


⚖️ Incentives & Sustainability

  • Profitability must stay above operating costs for SPOs; current reward trajectory is unsustainable.

  • Rewards should be more balanced across market cycles — current system makes it hard to sustain pools long-term.

  • Proposal to adjust reward calculation to eliminate negative feedback loop:

    • Emit full rewards each epoch without returning any portion to reserves.

    • Would stabilize rewards & improve short-term viability.

  • Compound rewards on lost ADA is a long-term risk — may require expiring delegation certificates to avoid distortion.

  • Pledge is seen as capital inefficient — ideas to de-emphasize its role.

  • Min margin vs min pool cost:

    • Broad support for moving toward a min margin model instead of min pool cost.

    • Both parameters could be maintained short-term and governed via DReps.

  • Reducing taxes from 20% to 10% suggested to help improve delegator rewards and attractiveness.


🚀 Business Opportunities & Network Expansion

  • Partnerchains/sidechains could offer additional revenue, but concerns:

    • Complex, requires matching ADA market cap for impact.

    • Seen as potentially harmful (as with Ethereum’s fragmentation).

    • Rollups (with settlement on L1) preferred over standalone partnerchains.

  • Direct fiat on/off ramps not seen as a blocker today — most SPOs already manage this via exchanges.

  • Direct stablecoin swaps (USDC/USDT) would be helpful for operational flexibility, but not critical.

  • Stake pool business model will need new revenue streams:

    • Examples include staking derivatives, stable pools, rollup infrastructure, partnerchain security.

    • Without new products, SPO business model may become unsustainable.


📢 Marketing & Growth

  • Paid marketing is not effective for SPOs:

    • Low ROI; acquiring single users not worth the cost.

    • Personal branding & visibility are the best tactics.

  • A better on-chain experience is needed:

    • New wallets should better guide users toward staking.

    • Better pool discovery UX needed (current approach too hidden/technical).

  • General Cardano marketing to new users (staking as utility) more useful than marketing individual pools.


🌐 Infrastructure & Decentralization

  • Bare metal setups are preferred when feasible:

    • More cost-effective in the long run.

    • Avoids risks of cloud centralization.

    • Hybrid models (bare metal + cloud failover) commonly used.

  • Cloud-only setups offer good block propagation but harm decentralization if used too broadly.

  • Future bandwidth demands (e.g. from Mithril, LAOs, etc.) may make bare metal more attractive.

  • Suggestion to allow optional node compilation (modular builds) to avoid bloated binaries & improve security.


🛠️ Future Parameter Changes & Governance

  • Reduce saturation (K) or rethink how K is used.

  • Priority to improve delegator rewards.

  • Desire for more rapid iteration of key parameters (K, taxes, reward models).

  • Governance process (DRep voting) currently seen as suboptimal for managing operator-specific parameters like fees.

Last updated