This week\u2019s guest on the <\/span>Cardano SPO Column <\/b>is a stake pool with the aim to <\/span>educate, and make people feel safe and secure when staking and with the end goal of donating 30% of all profits to charity<\/b>: <\/span>Upstream [UPSTR]<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Last week\u2019s guest<\/span><\/a> was a stake pool <\/span>committed to supporting the global Cardano ecosystem and donating to independently selected charities and not-for-profit organizations<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n This initiative is a point of reference for everything Cardano and every week or two we will invite a <\/span>Stake Pool Operator <\/b>(SPO) to answer some questions and give us an update directly from within the Cardano community.<\/span><\/p>\n Considering that many of our readers are new to the crypto space<\/span>, <\/b>we will have a mix of simple and technical questions.<\/span><\/p>\n Hi, thanks for having us. <\/span>Upstream are a group of 7 friends, of 20\/30 years, and we\u2019re from the UK<\/b>. Within our group we have;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ultimately we came together at the start of 2021 with the dream of <\/span>working as a team to lift each other in tandem<\/b>, to better ourselves and to ensure no-one is left behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With a wider societal view, <\/span>we\u2019re painfully aware of the knowledge gaps within our education system <\/b>which has resulted in multiple generations missing out on some of the most basic skills; <\/span>money management, sustainable living, basic food knowledge<\/b> to name a few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We want to promote and support charities that plug these gaps in the system, that allow everybody a <\/span>fair chance at succeeding in life <\/b>and to give everyone, regardless of upbringing, the opportunity to be the best them possible.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth be told, when we came into the Crypto space at the start of 2021 our primary intention was investing for profit. <\/span>We spent a few months investigating and researching the industry<\/b>, making some investments and getting a general feel for the space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll be the first to say that early-doors we were relatively naive and soon realised the extent of the learning-curve ahead of us. This is where having a 7 person team really helped us, <\/span>having the ability to research from multiple angles and bounce off each other has been so important.<\/b><\/p>\n ADA was one of our earliest investments<\/b>, it instantly stood out above everything else and the more we researched the more positive aspects we discovered. Our initial plan of straight-up speculative \u2018investing\u2019 very quickly went out of the window and we knew that this was a project that would <\/span>spearhead social change<\/b>. We instantly knew that we wanted to be involved for the long-term & was hooked on Cardano from this moment on..<\/span><\/p>\n Through further research we discovered how<\/span> committed to social-equality projects<\/b> the Cardano community was. You can see it everywhere you look. I\u2019m not saying that other networks\u2019 communities aren\u2019t decent too, there are plenty of decent spaces around, but what we saw coming from the Cardano community was special. We knew we couldn\u2019t sleep on it.<\/span><\/p>\n We decided that we would use our early ADA investment (plus a bit more) as the delegation to our pool, and luckily for us Mark has the technical ability to make this happen. <\/span>Upstream went live in epoch 286 and we\u2019ve been plugging away ever since<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n Marketing, marketing, marketing.. from experience, when an OG SPO says to you<\/span> \u2018make sure you have a <\/span><\/i>strong marketing plan<\/i><\/b> and are ready to adapt it when needed\u2019<\/span><\/i> make sure you listen to them! We had researched what hurdles the smallest pools would encounter and had a decent idea of what was involved regarding marketing but what caught us a little bit off-guard was how quickly the ecosystem changes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, <\/span>we created Upstream just as the ISOs really started to become prominent<\/b> and unfortunately as an unproductive pool it\u2019s difficult to build the relationships with relevant projects, as they want to see proof that the pool is effective and working properly. We do understand that this is part of the system and certainly aren\u2019t expecting hand-outs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We believe that effort and commitment will be rewarded over the long term<\/b> and there are plenty of projects coming through with the goal of supporting and enabling the smallest pools to grow. We will be eternally grateful to these projects for the support they provide the smallest pools.<\/span><\/p>\n As far as what the future holds.. we are focusing on<\/span> helping the wider onboarding of Cardano through local investment\/crypto meetups<\/b>. We\u2019re also arranging a Cardano specific event(s) in London too. Additionally, we aim to use Dave\u2019s skill-set (video production) to <\/span>promote the network and to provide new users with the knowledge and tools to get involved<\/b>. We plan on doing this by continuing to create simple entry-level \u2018how-to\u2019 videos explaining all aspects of the space; wallet creation, NFT\/Metaverse projects, crypto security etc. in a way that\u2019s jargon free.<\/span><\/p>\n Yeah, it\u2019s starting to get really exciting isn\u2019t it. We\u2019re in contact with some NFT creators and platforms and it\u2019s great to see how far they\u2019ve come considering how fresh the space is. Mark has made some really impressive contacts through his work creating the back-end for the <\/span>MAD (Mad In Art) NFT platform<\/b> which was originally planned to be built on Cardano but ended up being built on Harmony.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We met the team behind MAD at the <\/span>Cardano Summit <\/b>and are really excited to see them building on Cardano soon. Also, <\/span>CryptoBoutique<\/b> are a group local to where we\u2019re based, who we\u2019ve met at some of the local meetups and have a great project & community backing them. They\u2019re well worth a look.<\/span><\/p>\n As selfish as this sounds, the projects that excite us the most are the ones coming through which will allow us to <\/span>grow the pool at a faster rate and attract more delegators<\/b>. There are a number of projects that we\u2019re in contact with that are being built with the specific purpose of boot-strapping the smallest pools;<\/span><\/p>\n Optim Finance<\/b> (<\/span>@OptimFi<\/span><\/a>) is one of my personal favourites. They\u2019ve created a system that will allow the <\/span>smallest SPOs to have a substantial amount of ADA staked to their pool<\/b> for a set amount of time. This includes very low interest rates which are also partly subsidised too. It\u2019s very exciting as this would allow us to become productive as a pool, further support decentralisation within the network and to be able to keep donating to our chosen charities.<\/span><\/p>\n Some other projects that have really caught our eye recently \u2013 particularly for the support they give the smallest pools \u2013 are;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ZiberBugs<\/b> (<\/span>@ZiberBugs<\/span><\/a>) which is a really interesting <\/span>NFT collection and game<\/b>, look out for the drop coming soon, and,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Profila<\/b> (<\/span>@ProfilaPrivacy<\/span><\/a>), which is a tool that allows a user to <\/span>control their advertising & marketing data<\/b>, to choose where this data is shared and to receive royalties for doing so. Sounds like a win-win to us..<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re contactable on <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a> and are always open to collaborations so feel free to drop us a tweet, or, through our <\/span>YouTube channel, \u2018Upstream Staking\u2019<\/span><\/a> for that. Feel free to leave comments as to what you\u2019d like to see us cover from the Cardano ecosystem, <\/span>we\u2019re always open to community suggestions<\/b>. And keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements for affiliated<\/span> ISOs and NFT drops<\/b> happening soon..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We have to thank our current stakers<\/b>, we appreciate your support more than we can show you at the moment, we will find ways to show our appreciation as we grow..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A huge<\/span> thank you to the alliances<\/b>; The <\/span>xSPO Alliance<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Mission Driven Pools<\/span><\/a> & <\/span>Climate Neutral Cardano<\/span><\/a>, you\u2019ve been so supportive of us. The guys and girls that run these alliances are <\/span>true heroes of the space<\/b>, are always ready to provide support & expert knowledge and their input & dedication really should be highlighted, so thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n One last thing that I really can\u2019t leave without saying.. If you would like to stake to a small, charitable & sustainability run Stake Pool <\/span>please consider us \u2013 Upstream (UPSTR)<\/b> \u2013 every stake is appreciated. We\u2019re really excited to be a part of this community and cannot wait to see what the next few years hold for us all.<\/span> Hold on to your hats, it\u2019s going to be a hell of a ride\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the SPOs are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Disclaimer:<\/b> Cardano Feed is a Decentralized News Aggregator that enables journalists, influencers, editors, publishers, websites and community members to share news about the Cardano Ecosystem. User must always do their own research and none of those articles are financial advices. The content is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily reflect our opinion.<\/em><\/p>\nCardano SPO, interview with Upstream [UPSTR]<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"cardano](\"https:\/\/cryptonomist.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/IMG_InternaSPO-1024x475.jpeg\")
Cardano SPO [UPSTR] is a new stake pool<\/figure>\nHi, welcome to the SPO Column. Tell us something about your team, where are you based and what are your backgrounds?<\/span><\/h3>\n
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What\u2019s the path that led you to Cardano and to become Stake Pool Operators (SPO)?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Please share your experience as a new stake pool that hasn\u2019t produced any blocks yet. What difficulties are you encountering? And what is in store for the future of [UPSTR]?<\/span><\/h3>\n
The activation of smart contracts on Cardano has opened a plethora of possibilities. How have you been engaging with the DeFi and NFT space on this blockchain? Are there any projects in particular you are excited about?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Great contribution. Any final thoughts? Where can people stay in touch?<\/span><\/h3>\n