The aim of this proposal is to launch and maintain high-quality Stake Pool to make Cardano Center Poland self-contained from external funding, in the meantime strengthening Cardano network by providing additional block producer.
We agree that Cardano Community Hubs should be self-sufficient on as early stage as possible to continuously improve and develop further. The Cardano network gives us a perfect tool for that - stake pools. By making Cardano Center Poland a SPO (Stake Pool Operator) we ensure that the Polish branch of Cardano enthusiasts will keep having a place to meet, find valuable content and share ideas focused on the Cardano ecosystem, also in a post-Catalyst stage.
Our team talked to a few existing Stake Pool Operators from our local community and they tend to support that idea. Thanks to these talks we are able to estimate our needs in terms of future tasks, required funding and manpower.
As spreading the word is the key to success, a great piece of our proposal is marketing funding. Please note that this is not going to be a pure SPO marketing but planned ads should play a big role in spreading the word about Cardano ecosystem possibilities in general, as well as the Polish Cardano Community Hub (Cardano Center Poland). One of the most important parts in it will be content created especially with focus on other blockchains' communities which is planned to be spread via local crypto media.
As mentioned in the challenge settings, Cardano Community Hubs should become independent from Catalyst funding. We came to the conclusion that thanks to Cardano network structure, Stake Pool is the best possible way to achieve it.
What is more, Stake Pool itself gives a lot of new possibilities to spread the word about Cardano and Polish Hub. We may target people not necessarily from Poland but also those who value and enjoy our country, in the meantime expanding our "local" hub to become more "global".
Apart from providing more decentralized network, our Stake Pool should also introduce interesting and innovative elements like participants badges (CNFTs) which later may be used online (for special access) or during live activities (see Cardano Center Poland Live: https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/399413/) and so on. Possibilities are endless.
- As we, at least initially, plan to run our Stake Pool using Virtual Private Servers (VPS), we eliminated one of the biggest risks: the geo-political situation (EU Eastern border, so unpredictable).
- Another risk is the ability to properly install and maintain the Stake Pool, with regular updates and close to 100% uptime. We have already found an experienced Linux Specialist who is willing to take part in our project.
- Important factor is producing blocks - so the lack of active stake may be a serious risk. We assessed possibilities and came to the conclusion there is enough room on the market for mission-driven SPOs like ours.