After a longer break then expected, you know, babies etc, SPOt-lights are back with a vengeance, or better said, a mission. A mission to help raise awareness for the fight against Cancer. I’m honored to have gotten the chance to feature OZZY Pool, an MDP determined to fight Cancer by help funding research! Read on and give these guys a cheer!
- Hello Becca Tell us a little bit about yourself, what are your areas of expertise? (Tech, finance, other), how did you learn about Cardano and what led you to adopt the role you currently play in the ecosystem?
Thanks for having me, I really appreciate you taking the time to find out a little about OZZY. I’m a mum of 2 children and a stepmom to 1. My day job is a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. As far as areas of expertise, I enjoy social interaction and teaching others which has been my key role within the OZZY team. As far as team expertise goes, my partner Chris is a senior network operations analyst for a global payment platform provider. My brother Inlaw Steven is a software engineer, so together we have a good mix of what I think is needed to operate a good stake pool.
To be honest I learned about Cardano through Chris as he discovered it last year. I could see how excited he was about the ecosystem and decided to support him with running the stake pool. I spent many hours learning how the staking protocol works and after learning about what Cardano stood for and what it wanted to achieve I also fell in love with the project.
- So from getting to know Cardano, you now are a core part of it, or as most SPO’s do, trying hard to solidify that role. How has that been going, walk us through the process if you will.
First of all, the Cardano community is one of a kind which makes what I do 100 times easier, everyone is so kind and helpful. As I said before my role within the team is to help educate members of the community and answer any questions they may have regarding Cardano. Think of me as a 24/7 call center for any issues or queries Cardano related. Best of all I enjoy meeting and engaging with new people from all over the world so I genuinely enjoy doing it.
3. We’ve all seen OZZY fly by on Twitter under the flag of a Mission, one to fund Cancer research. How did that come to be, why Cancer? Was it personal experience or the broad pressure it has on our healthcare system?
Cancer has impacted everyone in the world one way or another, for us personally it was the loss of my father Inlaw Philip. He battled cancer for over two years but passed away back in 2019. He took part in many Cancer research clinical trials towards the end of his life, but not just for his personal needs, he understood the importance of the trials and how they could impact treatment for others in the future. We also all know how overwhelmed the world healthcare systems are and if we can donate to help in any way then we do. Infact as a family we take part in other events to fundraise for Cancer research throughout the year.
- How long have you guys been running the SPO race and how has it been so far. Any specific things that stand out to you, both positive and negative? Paint us your broad strokes image.
We are still a fairly new pool, as we only registered on mainnet back in April this year. 4 months ago in fact, although it feels like a lifetime ago. As I said before, the Cardano community is made up of amazing like minded people who are driven to better the world we live in. The community reaches all continents around the world and does not discriminate against anyone. I find it fascinating talking with fellow community members not just about the ecosystem but general real life topics. I get a sense of real friendships being developed.
- You have been active on twitter, usually being one of the first few people to respond to the “Where do I stake my ADA” questions. Are there any other efforts now to make sure you attract delegates?
We use many different social media platforms to engage with new crypto enthusiasts. I dedicate my time to help those that are unsure with how the protocol works and how to participate in staking on the network. I will continue to help as many enthusiasts with this and we will strive to give delegators the best staking experience possible.
- What can people do when they don’t operate a pool, but do have some ADA in their portfolio’s, can you give some general recommendations? Do’s and don’ts so to speak.
- First advice would be to remove ADA from any exchange you are holding it on, as the saying goes “not your keys, not your ADA”. The saying really is true, exchanges can stop you from carrying out any transactions on the network as the ADA you have on their exchange is held within their wallets. Take back control and hold the keys to your own wallet.
- When staking you will never be asked to send ADA, only a 2 ADA registration fee and transaction fee will apply.
- Don’t just pick the first pool you see, there are many amazing pools out there so please do research before delegating.
- Also by staking ADA on the Cardano network you are participating in helping maintain decentralisation of the network.
- We’ve touched on Mission Driven Pools briefly. Most people might think that this might influence their rewards. Is this the case and if not, where do these donations come from and will it be sustainable throughout a longer period of time?
Donations are paid by the SPO’s so will not impact any delegators’ rewards. All stake pools have a fixed fee for running their pools, this fee currently can’t be set any lower than 340 ADA as it’s a parameter within the protocol. There is also a margin fee that may apply for stake pools, this fee is a percentage that the pool operator gets on the rewards distributed for minting blocks. Ours is currently set to 0%. A proportion of these fees are what mission driven pools are donating so has no impact on delegators rewards or performance.
- Say you would become saturated, (this means you reach the optimal ADA balance to maximize rewards). Do you spin up a second pool? Or would you consider upping the marginal fee to enhance the amount of donations you can make?
We believe strongly in decentralisation of the network and if we achieved full saturation we would look to possibly partner with another small mission driven pool to help them grow. There are so many great pools looking to donate to many charities so if we get the opportunity to help then we will.
- Why should people delegate their ADA to your pool, or what benefit do they get from supporting this initiative?
We are very driven to give our delegators all the tools they need to navigate the Cardano ecosystem. No question is ever too big or too small. We set up this pool in memory of my father inlaw and plan to stay true to our roots, we will stay transparent and engaged with all delegators. By delegating to OZZY you will not only gain monetary rewards but also be helping to donate to Cancer research, which is very close to our hearts. Also we have a lot of knowledge within the team, chris works on legacy banking systems processing billions of transactions, whilst Steven has many years of software engineering experience. I’m always available 24/7 so reach out to me via Twitter, Facebook, Discord, Telegram or Instagram and I will do my best to help.
- Any final thoughts?
Thank you again for taking the time to find out a little more about OZZY, Please do reach out to us with any questions and I would happily answer them.
Twitter: @ozzy_pool, @becca06700093 Facebook: @ADAOzzy – Instagram: ozzy_pool Website: ozzy-pool.com, Email: ozzy-pool@mail.com.
Becca, Chris, Steven, thank you so much for the time to answer my prodding questions in a busy daily life. I hope that your mission is fruitful and that with the help of the Cardano Community we can help put a dent in the havoc that this terrible disease can wreak in peoples lives. To anyone reading this, have you lost a familiymember, friend or other loved one to cancer? Then glance over to OZZY Pool and see if you can be of service. Best of luck!
Kind regards,
Bas @STAYKPool