Cardano SPO Column: ADA 180 [A180]

This week’s guest on the Cardano SPO Column is a stake pool dedicated to closing the gap between the Cardano ecosystem and general public through a YouTube channel and by providing a top tier staking experience to delegators while also donating to the fight against pediatric cancer: ADA 180 [A180].

Last week’s guest was a stake pool that is contributing to the decentralization of the blockchain and also a Minswap FISO partner.

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.

Cardano SPO: interview with ADA 180 [A180]

Welcome to this column. Please introduce yourselves, where are you based and what are your backgrounds?

ADA 180 is a YouTube channel and stake pool dedicated to driving Cardano adoption through education and supporting pediatric cancer research. We were co-founded by myself, Armando Hernandez, and Liam Goddard. We are based in south Florida where we each grew up and live with our families. Liam and I met while attending undergrad about 10 years ago. We also have a third partner named Gene Hoyt who is a university professor working in Information Systems for 30+ years. Gene and I both served in the US Military and met through prior work serving veterans of south Florida.

Liam works in the nonprofit sector delivering health/wellness services to the geriatric populations. I work in the non-profit industry as well, bringing mental health services to military veterans and their families. Liam and I both recently completed our graduate degrees obtaining an MBA to help diversify our skill sets and bring more value to both personal and professional projects.

What is it about Cardano that has captivated your attention and what was the motivation behind starting your own stake pool?

The number one reason we were captivated by Cardano is their mission to make the world work better for all. Coming from the nonprofit world, we work every day to improve services to those who need them most. These are often groups or populations who are underserved and have no other options. That is why we fell in love with Cardano!

We decided to start a stake pool so that we could contribute to the community and help increase security through decentralization. We also wanted to add our own permanent mark on the community by minting blocks that would forever be recorded on the Cardano blockchain. Our pool is also mission driven, dedicated to supporting pediatric cancer research and less toxic forms of treatment. This topic is particularly close to our hearts as Liam’s youngest daughter, Riley, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor (Glioblastoma) just over a year ago.

One other thing that really caught our attention was the leadership of Charles Hoskinson. Having extensive experience in strategic leadership, both formally and academically, it was hard not to notice Charles and his skill set of building a vision, strategy, and a team to execute on one of the most important goals of our lifetime, banking the unbanked.

Besides operating a stake pool, you also have a YouTube channel. Can you tell us something about it and what’s your plan for its growth?

We decided to start our own YouTube channel to help drive Cardano adoption and keep viewers updated on its quickly evolving ecosystem. The channel is still new and already at 6.5K subscribers. We believe that this growth is because we are bringing real value to the Cardano Community. Our short video format delivers information packed into about three minutes (180 seconds). This allows us to meet the demands of the average Cardano Community. Many of whom are dedicated to careers, family, school, or health goals and simply don’t have time to watch 30-minute videos. We will be doing additional interviews with community and project leaders in the near future.

As you’re based in the US, can you tell us what are your thoughts about the Infrastructure Bill? What will the consequence be for the crypto and blockchain industry?

I think it’s clear that the bill could have severe consequences for developers, validators, miners, and node operators. And despite the fact it passed the Senate and has moved onto the house, we remain optimistic that this issue can and will be resolved. Perhaps our greatest hope comes from how the crypto community banded together on this. Putting years of differences and tribalism aside to work together and achieve a common goal. It is fascinating and inspiring to see the entire crypto community come together for this common cause.

Additionally, we have hope because we saw progress within the senate itself. We saw an amendment from Senator Lummis & Senator Toomey, a different amendment from Senator Cruz, and even Senator Portman changed the wording in his original amendment to reflect more concise language. This gives us hope that while the US Congress may not fully understand this technology, that there are good elected officials out there who are dedicated to figuring it out.

Many thanks for your answers. Any final comments? Where can people follow you?

Thank you so much for this opportunity. We are excited to be a part of this community for decades to come. You can follow us on YouTube or on Twitter. You can also email us directly.

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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