Carpe diem, or seize the day, is the attitude of those who grow and build from new opportunities. Thus, it was in that spirit that our team sprang into action when the Cardano Foundation recognized Lido Nation with a temporary 14.5M ada delegation to our stake pool back in July. Getting the word out and attracting new delegators was where we set our sights. To that end, we have been busy creating new content, building new tools, and making appearances on various social media platforms to introduce it all. This article covers the results of those efforts , with plenty of links to help you find your way around.
Catalyst Explorer
The Catalyst Explorer was worked on quite a bit over the last couple of months in preparation for voting in Fund 9; it paid off, too, as site views reached an all-time high, with many making use of the new additions (shout out to Catalyst Swarm for funding some of that work).
Categorization in the Voter Tool side of things is first on the list, having grown from around 3 to now almost a dozen categories. Most notable among them is the Quick Pitches category––a new way for proposers to differentiate themselves by submitting a link to a video presentation for voters to view right on the LidoNation version of a Catalyst proposal. Kudos to the over 100 proposers who submitted or had some other video we could use for this brand-new feature launched just days before the Fund 9 voting round began; together, we really helped enhance the voter experience!
Next is the new Charts tab of the Catalyst Explorer that gives visitors a unique visual of some of the most significant Catalyst stats. A word cloud pulled from proposal details, a chart showing the average winning proposal size, and several others give us a new way to digest some of the data that spreadsheets alone can’t easily convey.
The last we’ll mention is the potentially nail-biting introduction of the monthly updates from Catalyst projects found in the new Reports tab. When funded projects fill out their required monthly reports, they check a box consenting to the potential public viewing of the document. With this update, that public view has finally become possible for the masses. Viewing your own or others’ reports is undoubtedly an upgrade in accountability, but it’s also an excellent tool for learning and understanding. We hope it helps the community broaden their view of the work commencing and helps us all move towards a more well-documented future.
Articles
To open, a few new advancements to our articles by our outstanding dev team bear mention. Their recent addition of one handy new feature will allow readers to click on pre-selected phrases to tweet them out to all their followers without losing their place in the story! Then new in-article links will enable you to open highlighted info in a separate tab while reading through our now-justified paragraphs that are a bit easier on the eyes. And in a more technical sense, every link on lidonation is a unique database object that lets us programmatically check that those links remain valid. These and other improvements are all made to bring greater value to our readers; we hope they enhance your experience.
Next are a few summaries of recent articles we think you might enjoy.
The first is Blockchain 101: What’s a DEX, by Stephanie E. King. This brief but thoughtful piece walks readers through the concept of decentralized exchanges, how they differ from centralized versions, and some practical ways we can use them in our financial lives.
The second, Ethereum and Cardano Node Clients, by Darlington Wleh, gives us his developer-driven take on this aspect of our blockchain networks. He leaves us with an understanding of the more established nature of Ethereum’s node clients and the nascent potential inherent in Cardano’s much younger example.
Third on the list, The Cost of Honesty, was written by myself. This piece explores some risks in opening a business up to potential scrutiny when using blockchain technology. It also offers some insights into the benefits and practicalities of helping build a more transparent future, urging readers to contribute their thoughts in the comments.
StakePool
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the Cardano Foundation recently made a huge, though temporary (usually three months) delegation to the LIDO pool to help us begin producing blocks so we could more easily attract new delegations. The great news is that we’ve since met and surpassed the threshold for minting new blocks even after the Foundation moves on to help another pool! We want to give a big shout-out to the good dogs over at Hosky; they recently added our LIDO pool as one of their “rug pools,” and the ensuing delegations helped us get over the line. Lastly, you may have seen our new sponsorship of JCrypto’s prolific youtube channel ––go check him out; he has a lot of great news, updates, and information about projects on Cardano!
For those who wish to stake with the LIDO pool, well, we have some news for you too. When visiting the Delegator tab on our site, you can now stake one of the supported wallets with our “one-click” delegation tool. Just another way Lido is looking to simplify the experience of staking your ADA on Cardano with our small and meaningful pool.
Lastly, we wanted to report the recent first minting of the long-awaited PhuffyCoin; it’s not just an idea anymore: IT EXISTS! The first PhuffyCoin sent to a delegator arrived on October 2, 2022, in the amount of 54,231,795 $PHUFFY, and was really one for the books! Shout out to that delegator––Joker from ONE pool––for making history and being part of furthering the learning around this collective contribution system that’s at the heart of PhuffyCoin. Connect your wallet to start collecting your PhuffyCoin, today!
Outreach and Education
Next, we have some updates on the work of our own Stephanie King. Stephanie recently accepted the new role of Cardano Ambassador. We’re so proud of Stephanie’s work and know she’ll make a great addition to those ranks! Having only returned hours ago from a trip to Lido Nation’s own Ngong Road Blockchain Lab in Nairobi, Kenya, Stephanie is already back to work State-side, a bit sad at having to leave such great new friends behind. The visit assisted our Kenyan team in having one-on-one time with the Salesforce legend herself and honing some capacities with the business-management software Lido employs.
One of the fruits of her diverse talents is the launch, earlier this month, of the Proposal Assessor Course over on the Blockchain Learning Center, hosted by the good people at BeanChain. This thorough course helps learners build a foundation of context first, makes space for the study of the PA Guide next, and leaves them with an ability to contribute to the ecosystem while earning something for their efforts. If you or someone you know may be interested, go check it out––and remember, we’re always eager to get more feedback from our learners!
Lido Minute: mini podcasts and NFTs with out-of-the-box utility!
Now for some of the most noteworthy news from LidoNation in quite some time, we will soon launch the long-awaited Lido Minute Podcast! Part mini-podcasts, part beautiful artwork, part cutting-edge marketing, this project, launching at RareBloom, is the first in a planned series of NFT releases from LidoNation. These unique NFTs allow holders to get their news, ads, or other info in front of our audience, for as long as they hold their NFT!
Come back here on October 14th for the link to the our “Teal Paper” for the whole project!
This upcoming first season is an audio-first experience where Cardano explorers can learn all about what ingredients make up our scratch-built blockchain. This gives everyone who partakes some knowledge they can use in furthering their learning and more easily accessing some of the more technical offerings from the latest dApps, products, and integrations that are coming out every day.
Stay up-to-date, and learn it fast, with the Lido Minute Podcast!
The Wrap-Up
If you’ve spent any amount of time on LidoNation.com in the past month, you’ve likely noticed these or perhaps some other updates not covered in this article. There’s always something new coming around the corner, to be sure. If you have any thoughts or ideas for improvements or other projects you think we might be interested in also offering, put them in the comments below; we’re always eager to hear the ideas of those who know us best!
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