Cardano SPO Column: Lido Nation [LIDO]

This week’s guest on the Cardano SPO Column is a single pool operator aiming to provide education and communication for the entire public blockchain space: Lido Nation [LIDO].

Last week’s guest was a stake pool dedicated to improvement of science and biomedicine operated by a scientist and pharmacist.

This initiative is a point of reference for everything Cardano and every week or two we will invite a Stake Pool Operator (SPO) to answer some questions and give us an update directly from within the Cardano community.

Considering that many of our readers are new to the crypto space, we will have a mix of simple and technical questions.

Hello, thanks for your time. Tell us something about yourselves, where are you based and what are your backgrounds?

LIDO Nation is run by Stephanie King and Darlington Wleh. We are two blockchain enthusiasts located in Minnesota, USA. 

Darlington, borned in Liberia, is a software and Devops engineer by day and at all times a dancer, humanitarian, idealist and entrepreneur.

Stephanie, a midwest native, is a teacher and technologist with a passion for helping non-profits navigate and capitalize on technology. 

How did you discover Cardano and what fascinates you about it?

Like many, I first followed Bitcoin, then Eth, then started foraging for gems during the ICO craze, with the primary goal of making “life changing wealth.” Finding Cardano was a huge turning point in my journey.

Though not everyone will understand how the technology works, anyone who spends time in the Cardano community can see they are doing something very different. Cardano does everything from the middle out, and at the center is individuals: you, and me. It’s a platform that seeks to improve the dignity and quality of life of one person, 2 billion times.

Since we also have readers unfamiliar with staking, could you give an explanation of what it is, and what is the role of your stake pool?

Staking is something that everyone who owns ADA coins should do! When you stake your ADA, you make it harder for any small group to gain an unfair advantage. Only staked coins get to participate in the automated security processes around adding data and processing transactions on the network. So if someone could own 51% of staked coins, then they could potentially have a starting point to hacking the system. When all of us stake our coins – millions, all over the world – we create unshakable decentralization, because the total supply of ADA is fixed. 

When you stake your coins, you designate a pool that will validate new blocks and secure Cardano on your behalf. LIDO stake pool is one of 2900+ servers around the world that holds a copy of the entire blockchain, helping to ensure that things stored on Cardano can’t be forged or changed. Every now and then, LIDO pool is picked to validate and add new data (new blocks) to Cardano. When any pool validates and creates blocks, they earn rewards (more ADA) for the pool and for everyone who is staked with the pool. At LIDO, a percentage of our rewards supports ongoing Cardano News and education, as well as charitable donations. Many pools support good causes, which is something you may want to look for when you pick a staking pool!

Something else that has been making strides in the Cardano ecosystem is Project Catalyst. Why are some describing it as the world’s largest DAO and what is its purpose?

Project Catalyst is a great experiment, exploring one way of spending the Cardano Treasury funds. The Treasury is how Cardano pays for its own development and maintenance. The way the Treasury is structured is revolutionary. It’s like a country with no income tax, where instead the budget is paid for by economic activities, like imports and exports, tax on goods and services, etc. Project Catalyst is then like a truly democratic polling booth, where citizens vote on how Treasury Funds are used. Ideas to improve the Cardano network are submitted by community members who have great ideas that require funding. Anyone who holds ADA can vote for the winners. To date, $3M (USD) has been awarded to community innovators through Project Catalyst. 

I appreciate your contribution. Is there something else you’d like to mention? Where can people find you?

LIDO Nation is a purpose-driven Cardano staking pool, providing news, articles, and how-to resources for people to learn about Cardano. We skip the hype and the crypto-babble; we are a trustworthy resource that anyone can understand, even without a background in tech or finance. Our website has new content every week. We just launched a directory of all Project Catalyst proposals in an accessible UI. We’re currently working on fully localizing the site for Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese and Swahili. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the SPOs are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOHK.

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