PSA from Endeavor Stake Pools to all Cardano HODLers AND new investors to Cardano!
As the Shelley Era begins for Cardano, the world of cryptocurrency is excited and moved by what Cardano's team has accomplished. The Cardano Foundation has created the world's first completely decentralized cryptocurrency using Proof of Stake. Not only is Cardano much better for the environment compared to electricity-heavy Bitcoin, it is also fair for all Cardano miners. Anyone can participate in owning ADA or running the Cardano network. All staking pools have an equal chance of mining blocks of ADA, proportionate to the amount of stake that is delegated to them. No longer does one need to buy expensive mining hardware just to mine coins and participate in the system. With Cardano, all actors in the ecosystem are equal!
Unless you make it unequal by staking in high fee pools and throwing your money away.
For the individual stakeholder, your staking rewards should be the same no matter which pool you choose. Cardano has set that amount to about 4.5%. This is great news for Cardano holders and investors alike. A fixed return on a (hopefully) appreciating asset is the kind of consistency that mutual-funds would kill for! To get this 4.5%, you just need to begin staking!
Staking your coins is as simple as clicking on a stake pool, and clicking "Delegate" in Daedalus. However, do not be deceived by this simplicity, as not all pools are created equal! Many pools have deceptively high fees. For example, the ENDVR and ENDJA pools have a set fee of 2%. 2%!!! However, millions of dollars of ADA are currently being staked to pools with 4%, 5%, and 6% fees. Really? Fellow Cardano HODLers, COME ON! You're better than this. Investing to those pools is just throwing away money.
Cardano may be creating an equal system for all, but if you stake to high fee pools, you are creating an unequal system for yourself.
Cardano is a great accomplishment. It offers fairness and freedom in the financial system for the entire world. However, with this freedom comes choices. Pools will try to take advantage of the choice. Do not let them. Don't waste your money.
Pools with high fees work hard to sell this fantasy that they are better than everyone else, and that their pools will earn you more. They work hard to sell the narrative that they have the most up-time, and that their hardware and configuration is more valuable. This is simply not true. All pools are equally weighted. There are dozens, or hundreds of pools with similar up-time metrics and professional teams behind them, that produce just as many blocks as the more expensive pools.
Pick a pool that has lower fees, like ENDVR and ENDJA, AND has a professional management team with plenty of experience. Pick a pool that has a solid infrastructure in the cloud AND that is likely to be up 24/7. Don't pick a pool run on a Rasberry Pi or a server in a garage. And don't pick a low fee pool just because it is low. There is more to a pool than just a fee. We get it. Pick a pool that has a plan for success and gives you the best chance to earn rewards. But between two equally managed pools with the same uptime, 6% vs 2% is not even a contest. The fees will be 3X higher in the more expensive pool.
Do not pick a YouTuber's 5% pool just because you like them. It's YOUR money, not theirs. You earned it, and you deserve the most. They should be catering to YOU, not to their wallets. Catering to you means reasonable fees.
So whether you are an experienced or new cryptocurrency investor, start getting smarter. Pick pools that will give YOU the most return on your investment, not the pool operators. ENDVR and ENDJA are just two of many fairer priced pools. We hope you demand such fairness from ALL the pools.
And remember: Never send your coins to ANYONE. Every giveaway and contest is a scam. Especially on YouTube. The only way to earn more coins is by staking. And the only way to earn the most coins is by staking SMARTLY.
Go Cardano!
Michael
Endeavor Stake Pools (ENDVR + ENDJA)