This report outlines the activities and achievements of the ABLE Stake Pool over the past year. It highlights how the Cardano Foundation's delegation to our stake pool has enabled us to create valuable content for the community.
Over the past year, our stake pool has seen significant improvements in performance metrics. Initially, we were producing 1 block per epoch. However, following the Cardano Foundation delegation snapshot, our block production rate increased to 20 blocks per epoch. With the addition of new delegators throughout the year, we now produce an average of 35 blocks per epoch. The reward distribution to our delegators has also seen a substantial increase, rising from a range of 127 to 520 ADA to a range of 12,000 to 15,000 ADA every 5 days. In terms of infrastructure, we have made significant upgrades since last year. We have acquired two additional emergency batteries and enhanced the memory and storage capacity of all our servers.
I have been heavily engaged in Cardano Governance and have integrated as many people as possible into the Sancho testnet to teach them how to be DReps and how to use the governance features we are currently using today. For this purpose, I conducted governance workshops every Thursday on Discord. Some of these workshops were recorded, while others were not, depending on the attendees' decisions. The link to these workshop is accessible below, in the Tutorial section.
In addition to the workshops, I made myself available to assist individuals privately. I provided guidance on deriving their DRep credentials from a seed phrase, securing them in a cold environment, and building their governance transactions using the CLI. I also assisted organizations and DAOs in generating multi-sig DReps, ensuring that they could securely and effectively participate in governance. This personalized support ensured that community members and organizations could confidently participate in Cardano governance.
Over the past year, we have produced a variety of educational materials to support the community's understanding of Cardano governance and protocol parameters. These materials include:
- Infographics:
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A series of infographics simplifying governance and protocol parameters for the community. View Governance Group Infographic
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The Governance Tree infographic, which explains how to register as a DRep, delegate to a DRep, and vote as a DRep using the CLI. It also covers how to build a governance action and understand its content. View Governance Tree Infographic
These infographics and tutorials are currently being utilized in Constitution Drafting workshops around the world, demonstrating their practical application and value to the community.
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Tutorial Videos:
- A comprehensive playlist of tutorial videos that cover everything you need to know about Cardano governance. Governance Tutorials Playlist
- The governance Workshop video playlist where we interactively learn about Cardano's governance features. Governance Workshop Playlist
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Community Scripts:
- Various scripts to rigorously test the SanchoNet, allowing participating community members to actively engage in testing and identifying glitches and bugs. View SanchoNet Testing Scripts and Batch Voter
- A script to batch vote on governance actions within the same transaction. View Batch Voting Script
- A script for Constitutional Committee members to verify and sign transactions offline to approve specific governance actions. View Offline Voting Script for the Constitutional Committee
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Updates of the Documentations:
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I ensured that the French version of CIP-1694 was kept up to date and contributed to the CIP-1694 itself by revising some of the wording that could have caused confusion. I aligned certain terms and protocol parameter names with those in the Interim Constitution, specifically those mentioned in the appendix about the guardrails script. View Updates of the Documentations
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I am currently awaiting the next CLI update, which will remove all top functions from Cardano Eras except for Babbage and Conway. Once this update is released, I will update the CLI cheat sheet infographic. I am in ongoing communication with the CLI team to facilitate this update. View CLI cheat sheet
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The delegation we received from the Cardano Foundation has had a profound impact on the visibility and growth of our stake pool. As illustrated in the accompanying graphic, there was a significant increase in delegation immediately following the Cardano Foundation's support. This boost in visibility is evident from the metrics available on cexplorer.io, which show a marked rise in the number of delegators and the total stake. Specifically, our pool saw an increase from 21 million ADA to over 36 million ADA in delegated stake within a few months. The number of active delegators also grew from 58 to over 430, demonstrating the trust and credibility that the Cardano Foundation's delegation has instilled in the community. This increased visibility has not only enhanced our pool's reputation but has also attracted more individual delegators and partnerships, further solidifying our position within the Cardano ecosystem.
The delegation from the Cardano Foundation has significantly bolstered our credibility within the community. It has also legitimized the documentation we produced both before and after receiving the delegation. This support is evident through numerous testimonials from community members and stakeholders, as well as various partnerships and collaborations facilitated by this delegation. Here are some examples of community support:
Thanks to the delegation additional reward we received from producing blocks, we receive an additional 30 ADA per epoch to help finance our stake pool project. This funding supports our mission to extend Cardano's goal of universal financial access, with a focus on African communities facing poverty. We invest these profits in high-performance equipment for local African farmers, fishermen, and tradespeople, prioritizing local purchases when possible. By providing efficient tools, we aim to enhance productivity and empower these communities to build wealth and overcome poverty with dignity. As soon as we reach the 25,000 ADA threshold in our project wallet, we will begin implementing these initiatives. Our project's transactions are transparently tracked through our wallet, accessible via the ADA handle $able-pool.
Our plans for continued community engagement include participating in Constitution draft workshops and providing as much teaching and knowledge as possible to the community, without any filters. I make a conscious decision not to include the Pool logo in the infographic content I create, as I believe it should not hinder its propagation within the community. While this may not be the best strategy for Pool marketing, I remain committed to this approach because, at the end of the day, the blockchain and its community are what truly matter.
I am currently working on two infographics that will provide detailed explanations of the Constitution guardrails script and the protocol parameters Technical group. These infographics aim to break down complex concepts into easily understandable visuals, helping the community better grasp the intricacies of these topics.
On my TODO list, I also plan to create infographics for the Network Group and the Economic Group. These infographics will describe each protocol parameter of these respective groups in a way that's more digestible by the community and the DReps who will have to vote on their modifications. This will further enhance the community's understanding of the various components and their roles within the Cardano ecosystem.
Additionally, I will develop an infographic for the Constitutional Committee "Credential manager" toolings. This will provide a clear and concise overview of the tools available to the Constitutional Committee for managing credentials, including Membership, Delegation, and Voting roles. It will explain in detail the power that comes with each of these roles, including how to rotate keys, authorize voting keys, resign, vote, mint the NFT, and how the credential smart contract works and should be used. This ensures transparency and efficiency in their operations and will also allow future CC members to get to know these tools and how to use them prior to applying as CC candidates.
Our ultimate goal as a stake pool is to reach maximum saturation while ensuring maximum performance. We are committed to achieving this by continuously optimizing our hardware, block propagation, and server performance. This includes investing in high-quality equipment and infrastructure to maintain optimal operational standards. Additionally, we prioritize proper redundancy and the elimination of any single points of failure to ensure the reliability and resilience of our stake pool. Through our engagement with the community, we have learned that the more we invest in improving Cardano and its tooling, the more likely the community is to support us and delegate to our stake pool. By focusing on these key areas and contributing to the ecosystem's development, we aim to provide consistent and robust support to the Cardano network, thereby maximizing rewards for our delegators and contributing to the overall health of the ecosystem.
In conclusion, we are immensely grateful for the unwavering support from the Cardano Foundation and the entire community. Your belief in our mission and your generous delegation have been instrumental in our progress and success. We have achieved significant milestones, from enhancing our credibility to securing financial support, and we are excited about our future plans. None of this would have been possible without your continued encouragement and backing. Thank you for being an integral part of our journey and for helping us make a meaningful impact. After much deliberation, we have made the difficult decision not to run for the next delegation round. This was not an easy choice, as the financial support we received has been incredibly beneficial to our mission. However, we believe that there are other outstanding pools that work just as tirelessly to advance Cardano and deserve their moment in the spotlight. We do not want to stand in the way of their opportunity to shine. Ultimately, we understand that the final decision rests with the Cardano Foundation, and we have full confidence that they will continue to make the right choices, as they always have.
With gratitude and commitment,
-- Mike Hornan, Operator of ABLE Pool