This week\u2019s guest on the <\/span>Cardano SPO Column <\/b>is a stake pool operated by <\/span>Ian from Worcestershire, UK, who donates to Arts Emergency and UNICEF Ukraine<\/b>: <\/span>Hephaestus Stake Pool [HEPHY]<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The previous guest<\/span><\/a> was a stake pool <\/span>operated by a diverse blend of people united by a love of cannabis and blockchain.<\/b><\/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 <\/span>update directly from within the Cardano community<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n Considering that many of our readers are new to the crypto space<\/span>, <\/b>we will have a <\/span>mix of simple and technical questions<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n Hi Patryk, thanks for reaching out. My name is <\/span>Ian<\/b>, I am a solo SPO based in <\/span>Worcestershire in the UK<\/b>. (Yes, of the sauce fame). I have a somewhat eclectic background; <\/span>I work full-time in the manufacturing of flooring products while running a wedding and portrait photography business part-time<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I have <\/span>always been fascinated by technology<\/b> however, having once qualified as an Apple Certified Support Professional and completed various coding courses on Treehouse in my spare time. <\/span>I first fell down the crypto rabbit hole in early 2018, buying my first ADA in March 2018.<\/b><\/p>\n Hephaestus Stake Pool [HEPHY] is a member of the <\/span>Cardano Single Pool Alliance (CSPA) <\/b>and <\/span>Extra Small Pool Alliance (xSPO)<\/b>. The pool runs a <\/span>bare-metal block producer and relay with UPS backups with an additional cloud-based private relay<\/b>, all can be managed remotely and are secured with 2FA.<\/span><\/p>\n I took the<\/span> \u201cDo Your Own Research\u201d mantra <\/b>hard when I first got into the space and researched the space thoroughly for weeks. Roadmaps and whitepapers back then were everywhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What attracted me to Cardano was the granular roadmap they had at the time<\/b>. It clearly outlined all the areas they were working on, the progress of each section and who was responsible for it. Even then it had a <\/span>greater sense of accountability<\/b> about it. I respected the <\/span>research-first approach<\/b> and appreciated that they were taking the time to get things done securely. <\/span>Financial systems should be developed as seriously as other critical systems like space travel and medical devices.<\/b><\/p>\n As time went on, its strengths became clearer and clearer. Of that Class of 2017 <\/span>\u201cETH Killers\u201d<\/b> (EOS, ADA, TRON), <\/span>my TRON wallet became spammed full of junk, EOS didn\u2019t even have any decent wallets to begin with<\/b>, it was the clunkiest experience I\u2019ve ever had in crypto and as an early Daedalus user, that\u2019s saying something.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m not a developer but at the turn of 2021 I wanted to do more than just be a passive staker in the ecosystem. In January 2021 I picked up a copy of <\/span>The Linux Bible<\/b>, worked through the <\/span>Cardano Stake Pool Course <\/b>online and had a<\/span> testnet pool running on Raspberry Pi\u2019s<\/b> by Easter. I continued to chip away and learn throughout the year before<\/span> launching Hephaestus Pool in February 2022 self-hosted on bare-metal infrastructure<\/b>, for decentralisation, using 11<\/span>th<\/span>-gen Intel NUCs.<\/span><\/p>\n There is a big debate surrounding pool fees and how they work which goes beyond the word count allowed here. <\/span>Input Output<\/b> just put out a great blog piece for discussion and can be <\/span>found here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n I currently <\/span>donate from the 346 ADA (340 fixed fee + 2.49% margin) the pool receives<\/b> when it mints its first block in an epoch.<\/span><\/p>\n In keeping with the pool name, <\/span>Hephaestus \u2013 Greek god of blacksmiths and artisans, I wanted to support arts and creative charities<\/b>. During my research I came across<\/span> Arts Emergency here in the UK<\/b>. An award-winning mentoring charity providing a support network of mentors aiming to help young people from underrepresented backgrounds get a fair start in the arts and humanities. They do this by <\/span>providing contacts and advice to mentees in their pursuit of higher education and careers in the creative industries<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Secondly, I also <\/span>donate to UNICEF Ukraine<\/b>. The pool launched 2 days before the outbreak of hostilities in Eastern Europe.<\/span> In 2014 I climbed the tallest mountain in Europe, Mt Elbrus in Russia and during that climb I helped raise money for UNICEF<\/b>. Our lead guide on that trip was a Ukrainian woman, an absolute force of nature with whom the whole group struggled to keep up with for most of the trip and a delightful character. <\/span>She now lives in Dnipro<\/b> and so it was an issue close to my heart that I wanted to donate to that just brought all of this history together.<\/span><\/p>\n The meetups have been great. They have been hosted by the guys<\/b> from <\/span>Upstream Stake Pool [UPSTR]<\/span><\/a>. I was never a big Twitter user but after 3 years of gaining little traction trying to onboard family and friends, I started a crypto specific account at the end of 2020. It has been a <\/span>brilliant way to connect with the community<\/b>, but it cannot beat that in-person experience of meeting and talking to fellow community members.<\/span><\/p>\n London is a bit of a journey from where I live in the UK but the first event was such a great success that I did not hesitate to return for the second event 3 months later. They have been <\/span>great chances to meet a wide range of community members from SPOs, builders, enthusiasts and those just looking to learn more<\/b>. The community is brilliant, I missed my last train home at the first meetup, having lost track of time debating<\/span> the importance of the Allegra HFC<\/b>, a pretty nerdy thing to miss a train over! <\/span>OZZY<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>RCADA<\/span><\/a> and ZEBRA pool members were all great people that helped me out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>next meetup is actually the Cardano Summit 2022 London event on Sunday 20<\/b>th<\/b> November 2022<\/b>, for which the UPSTR team have been selected to host this year. I\u2019m sure it is going to be a great event and it would be awesome to see as many UK crypto community members there as possible. I\u2019m really looking forward to it.<\/span><\/p>\n Firstly, thank you for this opportunity, these columns are a great thing you do for SPOs. Secondly, I would just like to say to anyone reading this who is <\/span>considering delegating some of their stake to a new pool, please consider single pools from the CSPA and\/or xSPO Alliances to help with the decentralisation of the network<\/b>. If people want to find out more about Hephaestus Stake Pool you can find details here: <\/span>Website<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Telegram Pool Updates<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>London Summit 2022<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Stay tuned as I am soon planning on<\/span> increasing the pool pledge from 25K to 30K and lowering the current margin from 2.49% to 0%<\/b>, as a show of commitment during this bear market and to reduce the portion of block rewards currently taken by the pool while the fixed fee remains at 340 ADA.<\/span><\/p>\n Many thanks once again Patryk, all the best.<\/span><\/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 \nCardano SPO Column, interview with Hephaestus Stake Pool [HEPHY]<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Cardano](\"https:\/\/cryptonomist.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_InternaSPO_085-1-1024x373.jpg\")
Hi, thanks for your time. Tell us something about yourself, where are you based and what is your background?<\/span><\/h3>\n
What\u2019s the path that led you to Cardano and to become a Stake Pool Operator (SPO)?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Many stake pools donate a portion of pool fees to charities. How does it work? And what charities are you supporting?<\/span><\/h3>\n
What was your experience at the 2 London Cardano social meetups? Is there a strong London-based Cardano community? When is the next event?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Great contribution. Any final thoughts? Where can people stay in touch?<\/span><\/h3>\n