In a universe, not far from ours, a dark planet lurks far away from its sun. Life is vastly different from how we know it, as evolution has taken it a different path. Creatures have claimed responsibility for what the sun couldn’t provide. Species indifferent to sunlight and heat have stood superior, but alas, there are more than one… In war with each other!

Brutal battles, murderous raiding and cross-racial breeding overflows every day in this world. Three races, each battling for domination and destruction. 

There is no surrender. There is no rest…



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ZiberBugs

<div data-id="159593" data-title=" ZiberBugs" data-slug="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/06/25/cardano-nft-column-ziberbugs/">This week&rsquo;s guest on the Cardano NFT Column is a Play 2 Earn NFT Autobattler on Cardano, reminiscent of the famous Axie Infinity: <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://ziberbugs.io/">ZiberBugs</a>.<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/06/18/cardano-nft-column-adania/">Last week&rsquo;s guest</a> was a gaming project characterized by a fantasy world of adventure populated by humans, elves, goblins and orcs.This initiative is a point of reference for NFTs on Cardano and every week or two we will invite someone 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.<h2>Cardano NFT project: ZiberBugs</h2><figure id="attachment_159594" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159594"><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3.jpg.webp 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-300x169.jpg.webp 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-622x350.jpg.webp 622w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-436x245.jpg.webp 436w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-195x110.jpg.webp 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-96x54.jpg.webp 96w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></source><img loading="lazy" src="https://cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3.jpg" alt="ZiberBugs" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3.jpg 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-622x350.jpg 622w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-436x245.jpg 436w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-195x110.jpg 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT1-3-96x54.jpg 96w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px">Cardano NFT project ZiberBugs is delving in to the Play 2 Earn world</figure><h3>Hi there, thanks for this interview. Please introduce your team, where are you from and what are your backgrounds?</h3>We are three founders from Vancouver and Stockholm, putting together a team of 15 people for this initiative! Us founders are all successful entrepreneurs outside the crypto space, eagerly trying to get into crypto through this project.&nbsp;Two of us are engineers with a technical background, and the last is an artist who has worked with graphics design his entire adult life and is also the owner of Sweden&rsquo;s most successful tattoo shop. Our team is global, and is composed of talent from the likes of Google, Amazon Prime Video and King.<h3>What is ZiberBugs? Tell us something about the gameplay. And why have you chosen Cardano for your project?</h3>ZiberBugs is a competitive, turn-based autobattler, designed by a true gamer-at-heart, with over 10,000 hours of competitive gaming experience. Games in the &ldquo;competitive&rdquo; category have limited-to-no progressional elements persisted between games, as they emphasize match fairness in their gameplay. The player&rsquo;s skill should be the determining factor, not the amount of time played or money paid.The base game revolves around taking turns to position your bugs on a hexagonal grid. There are no player sides, giving the game a very &ldquo;boardgameesque&rdquo; feel. Additionally, you build synergies, pick genetic boosters, earn and distribute promotions and fight for onyx buffs to build your power in the match and gain an advantage over your opponent.<figure id="attachment_159595" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159595"><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4.jpg.webp 959w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-281x300.jpg.webp 281w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-328x350.jpg.webp 328w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-229x245.jpg.webp 229w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-126x135.jpg.webp 126w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-90x96.jpg.webp 90w" sizes=" 959px) 100vw, 959px"></source><img loading="lazy" src="https://cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4.jpg" alt="ZiberBugs" width="959" height="1024" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4.jpg 959w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-281x300.jpg 281w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-768x820.jpg 768w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-328x350.jpg 328w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-229x245.jpg 229w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-126x135.jpg 126w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT2-4-90x96.jpg 90w" sizes=" 959px) 100vw, 959px">ZiberBugs battle each other on a hexagonal grid</figure>A lot of variables went into our consideration when we chose our blockchain. The reasons why we chose Cardano are many. <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://blog.cryptostars.is/why-we-chose-cardano-for-our-nft-game-7f6cc87bca6c">We wrote an in-depth article</a> about it in our Medium, but some of the key aspects are community strength, security and stability, the much lower competition and the ease of implementation! But how is it easy to implement an NFT game on Cardano you ask? Due to the native support of tokens and NFTs, you don&rsquo;t need a single smart contract for your entire game. You can just do it in your own backend.<h3><span id="A_lot_of_current_Play_2_Earn_games_in_the_crypto_world_require_an_initial_investment_to_be_able_to_play_and_have_fun_What_are_your_thoughts_about_this_Will_your_game_be_free_to_play_Where_does_the_revenue_come_from">A lot of current Play 2 Earn games in the crypto world require an initial investment to be able to play and have fun. What are your thoughts about this? Will your game be free to play? Where does the revenue come from?</h3>Our game will not be free-to-play. The reason for this is our very rewarding play-to-earn model. We will reward people more the better they are at the game, and ZiberBugs&rsquo; grand purpose is to greatly increase the number of professional gamers in the world.We want to be clear though, that we do not require any purchases to play &ndash; only investments.For anyone who&rsquo;d like to play our game, but may not be able to afford the initial investment, we have a scholarship concept native in our game, where people will be able to browse through guilds and sort on whether they provide scholarships.Our revenue model is in breeding. Inspired by the great Axie Infinity, ZiberBugs has made its own more sustainable, sophisticated and intricate breeding system, allowing gene pools to be perfected and evolution to do its job. And although we only keep roughly 20% of all fees that are paid into the game, this will be our revenue. The remaining 80% are, in one way or another, re-inserted into the ecosystem.We should mention too, that all our revenue will be in ZIBER &ndash; our own governance token.<h3>At what point of the development are you? When will it be possible to play the game?</h3>We have recently allocated resources to build a fully playable prototype of our game, consisting of one lineup of units and items. It has been made clear to us that as a brand new game studio, with founders brand new to crypto, it is essential to have something to showcase other than an idea, for the sake of gaining trust with both investors and followers. Therefore, we made this decision and are aspiring to have a prototype, not yet connected to the blockchain, ready to play in two months.The prototype will be an offline, share-the-screen style game, but due to the nature of our game resembling chess in unit positioning, it will be playable with people from the chat of a stream, by relaying units and coordinates in writing. The software architecture will be well-planned and designed so that it can become the fundament of the actual final product, which will streamline the development stage significantly.The development required beyond the prototype will commence when we close the seed phase. After that, we expect to launch the closed alpha test within 6 months, with handpicked alpha testers. The alpha test version of the game will be fully connected to the blockchain, and the players will be able to initiate the breeding and the NFT sale that they&rsquo;re managing.&nbsp;<h3>Awesome. Any final thoughts? Where can people learn more?</h3>First and foremost, check out our <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="http://ziberbugs.io">webpage</a>! On it, you can read our Darkpaper, pitch deck and see a bit of what our game looks like. Secondly, we urge everyone to join our Discord, using the link at the bottom of our page. There we have all kinds of fun activities, games and airdrops, and we&rsquo;re just about to release information on our upcoming NFT sale! Don&rsquo;t miss it!<figure id="attachment_159596" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159596"><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-1024x328.jpg.webp 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-300x96.jpg.webp 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-800x256.jpg.webp 800w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-450x144.jpg.webp 450w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-195x62.jpg.webp 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-96x31.jpg.webp 96w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2.jpg.webp 1500w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></source><img loading="lazy" src="https://cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-1024x328.jpg" alt="ZiberBugs" width="1024" height="328" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-1024x328.jpg 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-300x96.jpg 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-768x246.jpg 768w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-800x256.jpg 800w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-450x144.jpg 450w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-195x62.jpg 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2-96x31.jpg 96w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaNFT3-1-2.jpg 1500w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px">Arachnomancer is one of the creatures in ZiberBugs</figure>Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the people interviewed are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG. Moreover, this content is for educational purposes, it doesn&rsquo;t constitute financial advice.</div>

BitcoinEthereumNews

Cardano NFT: ZiberBugs – The Cryptonomist

<div data-id="158728" data-title=" Rabbitholepools [RABIT]" data-slug="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/06/19/cardano-column-rabbitholepools-rabit/">This week&rsquo;s guest on the Cardano SPO Column is a stake pool operated by Stef from Italy who&rsquo;s working on a traceability solution: <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://cexplorer.io/pool/pool1n7s5kpymwd0zsld8q23tpf7z5esjaqwmnnzzssee5630zpx5ww0">Rabbitholepools [RABIT]</a>.<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/06/12/cardano-spo-column-mermaids/">Last week&rsquo;s guest</a> was a stake pool implementing environmental action and education and contributing to the improvement of our earth&rsquo;s ecosystem.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.<h2>Cardano SPO, interview with Rabbitholepools [RABIT]</h2><figure id="attachment_158729" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-158729"><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-1024x341.jpg.webp 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-300x100.jpg.webp 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-800x267.jpg.webp 800w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-450x150.jpg.webp 450w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-195x65.jpg.webp 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-96x32.jpg.webp 96w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1.jpg.webp 1500w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></source><img loading="lazy" src="https://cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-1024x341.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="341" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-300x100.jpg 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-768x256.jpg 768w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-800x267.jpg 800w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-450x150.jpg 450w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-195x65.jpg 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1-96x32.jpg 96w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG_InternaSPO-1.jpg 1500w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px">Cardano SPO [RABIT] is working on a traceability solution</figure><h3>Hi, thanks for your time. Please introduce yourself, where are you based and what is your background?</h3>Hi, I&rsquo;m Stef, owner and operator of RABIT. I am Italian of origin and currently live in northern Italy after nearly 17 years in Australia.&nbsp;I have a PhD in Marine Biology and have worked in a University for many years, most recently as a eResearch Analyst and Data Scientist. I like the outdoors, bicycles and Cardano!<h3>What&rsquo;s the path that led you to Cardano and to become a Stake Pool Operator (SPO)?</h3>I came in contact with Cardano over a couple of years ago, as an investor. The superior ethos and technology of Cardano, and IOG&rsquo;s approach to peer-reviewed coding convinced me to participate more actively in the Ecosystem.&nbsp;So, after doing more research into the project, I became an SPO with <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://rabbitholepools.io/">RABIT</a> in November 2020. The journey as an SPO is an ever-evolving one and I have been fortunate to meet many like-minded people in groups like Freeloaderz, xSPO, CSPA and The Cardano Army.<h3>You&rsquo;re part of the ZiberBugs ISPO. For people new to Cardano, can you explain what an Initial Stake Pool Offering is? And in your case, how does it relate to the ZiberBugs NFT project?</h3>Cardano is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain and its cryptocurrency is ADA. Holders of ADA have a stake in the Cardano Ecosystem and delegate their stake to Stake Pools. In doing so, delegators maintain full control over their funds and have no lock-in period. In Cardano&rsquo;s PoS, delegators receive incentives in ADA, as their stake secures the network.Thanks to Cardano&rsquo;s PoS system, a new model for project fundraising and token release has been possible: the Initial Stake Pool Offering (ISPO). In an ISPO, a project can elect a number of participating pools, to distribute its tokens as rewards to delegators (on top of the ADA rewards they already receive). One example of ISPO is the collaboration between Ziberbugs and xSPO.In this ISPO, <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://ziberbugs.io/">Ziberbugs</a> took an innovative approach, and chose to partner with the <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://xspo-alliance.org/">xSPO Alliance</a> which is a group of extra-small stake pools, operated by people who have vowed to only ever run one stake pool in the interest of decentralization. RABIT is one of the 63 xSPO pools chosen to distribute Ziber Tokens to their delegators. This means that people who are delegating their stake to RABIT (or any of the other 62 pools) will be able to claim Ziber as well as their ADA rewards. Claiming can be done through the <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://vm.adaseal.eu/">Adaseal Vending Machine</a> and Ziber Tokens will act as the in-game currency for Ziberbugs.<h3>You&rsquo;re also building &ldquo;Trace &ndash; Product Tracing on Cardano&rdquo;. Please tell us more, what problems does it solve and how&rsquo;s the development going?</h3><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/CardanoTrace">TRACE</a> is a Web3 platform for Product Tracing built on Cardano. This project is being developed in collaboration with <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://harmonicpool.on.fleek.co/">ARMN</a> and was financed in May 2022 during Fund 8 of Project Catalyst (the innovation treasury of Cardano). A big thank you to the Cardano Community!Product Tracing can help producers and consumers alike, by protecting against counterfeiting, making recalls cheaper and easier, as well as creating trust between producers and their clients. Research shows that customers find value in Product Tracing, but commonly used systems are complicated and expensive to adopt.Blockchains are very suitable for this type of application and that&rsquo;s why TRACE is being built on the Cardano Blockchain. Our clients will have access to a Web3 interface, which allows creation of story-telling data about their products. NFTs minted by the platform will be used by producers to confirm their identity and enter data about their products, acting as a quality seal. TRACE will be affordable and intuitive, and bring Traceability on blockchain at everyone&rsquo;s fingertips. The interface has recently seen its first transaction sent successfully to testnet and targets for development in the proposed time frame are being met! Stay tuned for more information!<h3>Awesome. Any closing thoughts? Where can people stay in touch?</h3>I wish to thank you for the opportunity to reach out to your audience. The best way to keep in touch with us is via our Twitter accounts: <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/rabbitholepools">RABIT</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/MicheleHarmonic">ARMN</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/CardanoTrace">TRACE</a>.Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the SPOs are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG.</div>Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/06/19/cardano-column-rabbitholepools-rabit/

Cardano SPO: Rabbitholepools [RABIT] – The Cryptonomist

<div data-id="154927" data-title=" Upstream [UPSTR]" data-slug="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/05/14/cardano-spo-column-upstream-upstr/">This week&rsquo;s guest on the Cardano SPO Column is a stake pool with the aim to educate, and make people feel safe and secure when staking and with the end goal of donating 30% of all profits to charity: <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://adapools.org/pool/b67b0635ab2b26df9e44ba14fac3560720ca0902446d68fe282d4b97">Upstream [UPSTR]</a>.<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/05/08/cardano-spo-column-change-chg/">Last week&rsquo;s guest</a> was a stake pool committed to supporting the global Cardano ecosystem and donating to independently selected charities and not-for-profit organizations.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.<h2>Cardano SPO, interview with Upstream [UPSTR]</h2><figure id="attachment_154928" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-154928"><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-1024x475.jpeg.webp 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-300x139.jpeg.webp 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-754x350.jpeg.webp 754w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-450x209.jpeg.webp 450w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-195x91.jpeg.webp 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-96x45.jpeg.webp 96w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO.jpeg.webp 1047w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></source><img loading="lazy" src="https://cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-1024x475.jpeg" alt="cardano spo upstream" width="1024" height="475" srcset="https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-1024x475.jpeg 1024w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-300x139.jpeg 300w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-768x356.jpeg 768w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-754x350.jpeg 754w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-450x209.jpeg 450w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-195x91.jpeg 195w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO-96x45.jpeg 96w, https://en.cryptonomist.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_InternaSPO.jpeg 1047w" sizes=" 1024px) 100vw, 1024px">Cardano SPO [UPSTR] is a new stake pool</figure><h3>Hi, welcome to the SPO Column. Tell us something about your team, where are you based and what are your backgrounds?</h3>Hi, thanks for having us. Upstream are a group of 7 friends, of 20/30 years, and we&rsquo;re from the UK. Within our group we have;&nbsp;<ul><li aria-level="1">Mark &ndash; Web3 developer/business owner.</li><li aria-level="1">Dave &ndash; Videographer/business owner.</li><li aria-level="1">Chris &ndash; Commercial contracts manager.</li><li aria-level="1">Luke &ndash; Operations manager at a global IT company.</li><li aria-level="1">Ben &ndash; Interior architect</li><li aria-level="1">Andy &ndash; Customer support</li><li aria-level="1">Sam &ndash; Product innovation lead</li></ul>Ultimately we came together at the start of 2021 with the dream of working as a team to lift each other in tandem, to better ourselves and to ensure no-one is left behind.&nbsp;With a wider societal view, we&rsquo;re painfully aware of the knowledge gaps within our education system which has resulted in multiple generations missing out on some of the most basic skills; money management, sustainable living, basic food knowledge to name a few.&nbsp;We want to promote and support charities that plug these gaps in the system, that allow everybody a fair chance at succeeding in life and to give everyone, regardless of upbringing, the opportunity to be the best them possible.<h3>What&rsquo;s the path that led you to Cardano and to become Stake Pool Operators (SPO)?</h3>Truth be told, when we came into the Crypto space at the start of 2021 our primary intention was investing for profit. We spent a few months investigating and researching the industry, making some investments and getting a general feel for the space.&nbsp;I&rsquo;ll 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, having the ability to research from multiple angles and bounce off each other has been so important.ADA was one of our earliest investments, 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 &lsquo;investing&rsquo; very quickly went out of the window and we knew that this was a project that would spearhead social change. We instantly knew that we wanted to be involved for the long-term &amp; was hooked on Cardano from this moment on..Through further research we discovered how committed to social-equality projects the Cardano community was. You can see it everywhere you look. I&rsquo;m not saying that other networks&rsquo; communities aren&rsquo;t decent too, there are plenty of decent spaces around, but what we saw coming from the Cardano community was special. We knew we couldn&rsquo;t sleep on it.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. Upstream went live in epoch 286 and we&rsquo;ve been plugging away ever since.<h3>Please share your experience as a new stake pool that hasn&rsquo;t produced any blocks yet. What difficulties are you encountering? And what is in store for the future of [UPSTR]?</h3>Marketing, marketing, marketing.. from experience, when an OG SPO says to you &lsquo;make sure you have a strong marketing plan and are ready to adapt it when needed&rsquo; 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.&nbsp;For example, we created Upstream just as the ISOs really started to become prominent and unfortunately as an unproductive pool it&rsquo;s 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&rsquo;t expecting hand-outs.&nbsp;We believe that effort and commitment will be rewarded over the long term 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.As far as what the future holds.. we are focusing on helping the wider onboarding of Cardano through local investment/crypto meetups. We&rsquo;re also arranging a Cardano specific event(s) in London too. Additionally, we aim to use Dave&rsquo;s skill-set (video production) to promote the network and to provide new users with the knowledge and tools to get involved. We plan on doing this by continuing to create simple entry-level &lsquo;how-to&rsquo; videos explaining all aspects of the space; wallet creation, NFT/Metaverse projects, crypto security etc. in a way that&rsquo;s jargon free.<h3><span id="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">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?</h3>Yeah, it&rsquo;s starting to get really exciting isn&rsquo;t it. We&rsquo;re in contact with some NFT creators and platforms and it&rsquo;s great to see how far they&rsquo;ve come considering how fresh the space is. Mark has made some really impressive contacts through his work creating the back-end for the MAD (Mad In Art) NFT platform which was originally planned to be built on Cardano but ended up being built on Harmony.&nbsp;We met the team behind MAD at the Cardano Summit and are really excited to see them building on Cardano soon. Also, CryptoBoutique are a group local to where we&rsquo;re based, who we&rsquo;ve met at some of the local meetups and have a great project &amp; community backing them. They&rsquo;re well worth a look.As selfish as this sounds, the projects that excite us the most are the ones coming through which will allow us to grow the pool at a faster rate and attract more delegators. There are a number of projects that we&rsquo;re in contact with that are being built with the specific purpose of boot-strapping the smallest pools;Optim Finance (<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/OptimFi">@OptimFi</a>) is one of my personal favourites. They&rsquo;ve created a system that will allow the smallest SPOs to have a substantial amount of ADA staked to their pool for a set amount of time. This includes very low interest rates which are also partly subsidised too. It&rsquo;s 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.Some other projects that have really caught our eye recently &ndash; particularly for the support they give the smallest pools &ndash; are;&nbsp;ZiberBugs (<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ZiberBugs">@ZiberBugs</a>) which is a really interesting NFT collection and game, look out for the drop coming soon, and,&nbsp;Profila (<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ProfilaPrivacy">@ProfilaPrivacy</a>), which is a tool that allows a user to control their advertising &amp; marketing data, to choose where this data is shared and to receive royalties for doing so. Sounds like a win-win to us..<h3>Great contribution. Any final thoughts? Where can people stay in touch?</h3>We&rsquo;re contactable on <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Upstream_ada">Twitter</a> and are always open to collaborations so feel free to drop us a tweet, or, through our <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg0slOnS99-AFaLCGEjCAVw/featured">YouTube channel, &lsquo;Upstream Staking&rsquo;</a> for that. Feel free to leave comments as to what you&rsquo;d like to see us cover from the Cardano ecosystem, we&rsquo;re always open to community suggestions. And keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements for affiliated ISOs and NFT drops happening soon..&nbsp;We have to thank our current stakers, we appreciate your support more than we can show you at the moment, we will find ways to show our appreciation as we grow..&nbsp;A huge thank you to the alliances; The <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/AllianceXspo">xSPO Alliance</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/CardanoMDP">Mission Driven Pools</a> &amp; <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/CardanoCnbg">Climate Neutral Cardano</a>, you&rsquo;ve been so supportive of us. The guys and girls that run these alliances are true heroes of the space, are always ready to provide support &amp; expert knowledge and their input &amp; dedication really should be highlighted, so thank you.One last thing that I really can&rsquo;t leave without saying.. If you would like to stake to a small, charitable &amp; sustainability run Stake Pool please consider us &ndash; Upstream (UPSTR) &ndash; every stake is appreciated. We&rsquo;re really excited to be a part of this community and cannot wait to see what the next few years hold for us all. Hold on to your hats, it&rsquo;s going to be a hell of a ride&hellip;Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the SPOs are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG.</div>

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