The Word of the Day is Collaboration
“As people think and work together, a fabric of shared meaning comes into being.”
― Harrison Owen
Unless you are very new to the ecosystem, you are probably already aware that the power of Cardano is in its community. The ideas, projects and dedicated community members are the lifeblood of the ecosystem which is so much larger than Charles Hoskinson (or any other person or entity) and far more valuable than whatever the spot price is today. Are we dreamers? Perhaps, but our dreams are changing lives for the better, empowering people across the globe, feeding children and building a global future.
This week's Cooking was busy and, to be honest, slightly overbooked by yours truly. Nonetheless, it was a great space full of lively discussion and, yes, collaboration. As always, I encourage you to go back and listen to the recording, as the blog is merely a summary of the discussion. Here are the highlights:
The first guest was Sammy from Stake with Pride Pool who dropped by to tell us about all the hubbub and planning that is going into the June LGBTQIA+ pride celebrations for 2022. There was a call last Sunday which included guests from all over the world including Finland, Alaska and Sri Lanka. Right now the group is brainstorming about all the different ways the community can participate, from YouTube interviews to pride themed auctions. They are incorporating all aspects of the ecosystem, including SPOs, NFT projects and individuals that are interested in being advocates. The goal is big but the message is simple: acceptance and inclusivity for everyone, a celebration of the beautiful diversity in the Cardano ecosystem. Its still early in the process so please DM @StakeWithPride on twitter if you are interested in planning the celebrations or participating in any way.
The next guest was Stefano of Rabbit Hole Pool who, in conjunction with Harmonic Pool, has a Catalyst proposal up for your consideration. This is your reminder to get a Catalyst account created and your wallet registered if you haven’t already done so. Stefano’s Catalyst proposal is titled Product Tracing on Cardano. It is a product tracking mechanism that will allow producers of goods to offer product verification and tracking to their consumers. Basically, large organizations (like Walmart) have such systems in place, but the cost for small manufacturers is generally prohibitive. Stefano’s proposal is exciting for several reasons. Firstly, it is a practical and readily implementable solution to a real world problem. This isn't a theoretical pie in the sky type proposal. This one will produce real results in a year’s time. Second, this creates a bridge and real use cases from the cryptocurrency world to the things we use every day. Third, the team has created mechanisms that will encourage this to be used. This application will create a QR code which, when scanned, not only verifies product legitimacy, but also can generate an NFT that the new product owner can keep, trade or sell. While there are many Catalyst proposals, this one stands above the crowd - the requested funds are reasonable, the methodology is practical and the goals are attainable.
Stefano is also participating in an Catalyst F9 Challenge team, which is a chance for the community to vote on which categories will be funded in round 9. This challenge is called: Cardano Social Enterprises. Basically a social enterprise bridges the gap between for profit business and nonprofits. An example might be a coffee shop that uses profits to provide training for economically disadvantaged or special needs employees. This will leverage the power of the Cardano blockchain to help mass adoption and also promote positive social change. Candidates could either be existing or new businesses.
Stefano is also a member of the xSPO which was the next topic of discussion. To that end, we were joined by Guy from ADARare, Sean from Envy and Rich from Earn Coin Pool. The xSPO is a community for and about stake pools that have a delegation of less than 1 million when they join the alliance, although they are encouraged to stay if they grow after joining. It was formed by ADARARE, ADA4GOOD and NEXUS just about a year ago, when they realized that small stake pool operators would benefit from sharing their talents, as getting started is immensely difficult when you are building from the ground up. The xSPO allows pools a forum to work together, ask questions and benefit from each other's talents. The organization is growing and now offers a weekly twitter space for members, and often hosts some amazing guests for members as well. Additionally they have a rotating delegation that SPOs and individuals can participate in which helps the small pools mint blocks and attract delegators. Recently BOLDADA had the delegation and minted their first block as a result. If you are a small pool just getting started this is really a great place to be.
In addition to xSPO these pools are also involved in Freeloaderz, which came about when Chris from Santo pool and Ryan from PANL pool were discussing congestion on BlockFrost (the API server that NAMI wallet uses) when Sundae Swap first rolled out. As is typical of the xSPO crew- they saw a problem and went about fixing it by using the existing relay nodes from participating stake pools to avoid congestion in the mempool, which is a queue of submitted transactions waiting to be added to the blockchain. Also typical, Freeloaderz is open to anyone who wishes to participate. This crew is all about working together to improve the blockchain. On the call someone casually mentioned that there are 12 developers freely donating their time to the Freeloaderz project - just because its the right thing to do. Truly an amazing statement and a great example of how amazing the Cardano community really is. Freeloaderz does have two proposals in Catalyst. The first is related to the installation and set up of another load balancer, and can be accessed here. This will be a redundancy against system failure and a support to decentralization. The second, for a token and NFT distributor, can be found here. This proposal will create a mechanism that allows native tokens and NFTs to be distributed faster (especially during congestion) and cheaper. The requested funding will allow the Freeloaderz crew to expand their existing services and continue to add value to the Cardano ecosystem. We certainly know that this group has the expertise to get the job done and is committed to the Cardano ecosystem. Their previous work establishes that.
The foundation of Cardano is built on the talents and dedication of community members. There is opportunity here for everyone. If you are new, or even if you have been here a while the xSPO discord is a great place to start exploring the ecosystem and learning. If you are not a developer, but want to become involved in a community project there are endless opportunities, not the least of which is the planning of the PRIDE celebrations for June 2022. Whatever your skill set or interest, I encourage you to jump in and learn as you go. I guarantee that you will make new friends, learn new things and have a great time doing so.
By Traveler Jo | CardanoArmy.io
You can find Traveler Jo somewhere close to the sea. She loves Cardano, kayaking and food - not necessarily in that order. She's busy exploring the world, always in the company of her husband, tired dog and indignant felines.