FAQ

Short version: Staking is a method of generating returns with cryptocurrencies such as Cardano (ADA). If you delegate your ADA coins to a staking pool, you can generate passive income.

The term "staking" is related to the name of the process used to ensure the security of the Cardano blockchain (Cardano's modern "Proof of Stake" process, as opposed to BitCoin's "Proof of Work")

In Bitcoin's "Proof of Work" system, each miner tries to solve an increasingly difficult mathematical puzzle in order to mine the next block and receive a reward.

With Cardano's modern "Proof of Stake" process, a lottery is held to decide who can create the next block for the Cardano blockchain.

With this random distribution, each ADA can be seen as a kind of lottery ticket and those with more ADA have a higher chance of winning the block lottery and collecting the rewards.

To be precise, you don't win the block, but only the chance to forge the block. The person then has to do a little mathematical work (but much less than with Bitcoin's "Proof of Work"!). In order to actually realize the chance, you have to be online at the exact time of the block allocation.

This is the moment when delegating your stake plays a role. A stake pool is online for you around the clock, so you don't have to be. You can delegate your stake (i.e. your chance of winning) to a pool like us.

There is no risk in delegating your ADA. You do not send them to the stake pool operator, they are not frozen, there is no minimum quantity and you can add more ADA to your wallet or remove/sell them at any time.

Incidentally, Cardano's protocol is several thousand times more cost and energy efficient than Bitcoin's Proof of Work. It is also the first proof of stake protocol that has been mathematically proven to be just as secure as Bitcoin's proof of work.

So: If you want to achieve returns with staking, then delegate your ADA to our stake pool!
We look forward to hearing from you and are always there for you if you have any questions!

Our pool abbreviation/ticker:
SPG01

You can find a detailed tutorial on staking here

Basically: No. For the delegation of your ADA to us (as with any other stake pool), 2.17 ADA are due once at the beginning, that is 2 ADA for sending the staking certificate to the network and the usual 0.17 ADA standard transaction fee for this. No ADA will be transferred to us!

Basically, you will never lose ADA by staking! (Otherwise nobody would do it...)

Fees are only due (for all delegators) if the pool actually verifies one or more blocks and then receives rewards for this. The pool costs (0% in our case) and the fixed fees of 340 ADA are deducted from these block rewards and the remainder is then distributed proportionally to all delegators depending on their stake in the pool.
The entire process runs fully automatically on the blockchain and cannot be manipulated or stopped by stake pool operators - you will receive your rewards in any case!

If we are not allocated a block, we as pool operators will not receive any rewards either! We therefore pay meticulous attention to ensuring that our servers have a guaranteed uptime of 99.99% and always have enough power to guarantee that no block is missed.

No. Nothing is transferred to us.

Only a delegation certificate is sent to the network. This will cost you 2 ADA and the usual 0.17 ADA transaction fee. Many users seem to think that they are transferring their coins to the pool, which IS NOT the case.

They remain YOUR coins, in YOUR wallet. YOU still have the keys to your coins. A stakepool has NO ACCESS to your keys or coins.

There is no minimum limit for staking. You can theoretically stake 20 ADA, but you have to decide whether a return of approx. 5% on this sum makes sense...

The amount of the rewards depends on many factors. A new draw is held among all pools for each block to determine which pool is the new "slot leader" and may verify this block. The size of the pool is also decisive.

Large pools win this slot lottery more often and get rewards more often, but you have to share them with a lot of other delegators. (e.g. 0.12 ADA or even less)

Small pools are allocated fewer blocks by lot and may not get a block at all in an epoch, but the rewards are then MUCH higher because you only have to share them with very few delegators. We are then talking about 2-3 digit rewards. This is distributed almost evenly across all pools over the year with a return of around 5%. So if your pool has not won a block by lot for several epochs, that is no reason to panic or leave the pool.

Please support the small pools and avoid pool operators who already have several pools full in the interests of decentralization. In the near future, many will HAVE to leave the large pools anyway and re-delegate.

Take a look at the pools and check: whether the operators are available to answer questions, whether the technology is right, whether everything is transparent, whether you believe that they will still be around in 2 years' time...? it's all about trust.

This is probably the most frequently asked question. We have therefore written a detailed article on this topic.

No, we're here at Cardano 🙂 It all happens fully automatically.

Your rewards are also automatically added to your stake. You don't have to do ANYTHING for this, you don't even have to have started your wallet.

NO. Stakepools do not have your ADAs or your keys to the ADAs. They remain in YOUR wallet. You still have full control over them and can spend them at any time - and the stake pools have NO ACCESS to your ADAs.

You can spend your ADAs as normal if they work for you in a stake pool. However, the issued ADAs are then no longer used for further reward calculations - logical 🙂

As soon as you send new ADA to your wallet, they are automatically added to your stake. The same applies to rewards. You don't have to do anything. You don't even have to open the wallet. Everything happens fully automatically on the blockchain.

Short answer: After 15-20 days at the earliest - depending on when you join our pool in the current epoch. We have written a detailed article on this topic.

We recommend the Daedalus Wallet. Find out why in this detailed article.

Cardano is a blockchain-based project in the field of cryptocurrencies, which was launched with the aim of scientifically researching and solving all known, current difficulties of previous blockchain currencies and is referred to as the third generation blockchain and "Ethereum killer".

When designing Cardano, the current problems of known cryptocurrencies (scaling, power consumption, fees, speed, etc.) were solved directly in the conceptual approach with a great deal of scientific effort. In contrast to Bitcoin, Cardano relies on the much more economical proof-of-stake (PoS) method instead of the power-hungry proof-of-work (PoW) method.

Take electricity consumption, for example:
"In 2016, for instance, overcapacity from hydropower stations in Sichuan and Yunnan amounted to a whopping 45.6 terawatt hours [of Bitcoin electricity usage]. To put that into perspective, the entire US generated 4,100 terawatt hours of electricity in the same year."

Example decentralization:
In 2019, 81% of all Bitcoin miners came from China. For fans of a decentralized cryptocurrency, these figures should be alarming.
Cardano has been the most decentralized cryptocurrency since 2025. All blocks are generated by community stake pools (like ours).

The Cardano blockchain uses the "Ouroboros Praos" protocol. This divides time into epochs. Each epoch consists of a certain number of "slots", each of which lasts one second. A Cardano epoch currently consists of 432000 slots (5 days). In each slot, one or more nodes that produce blocks (usually stake pools) are nominated as "slot leaders". On average, a node is nominated every 20 seconds, resulting in a total of 21600 nominations per epoch. When randomly selected slot leaders produce blocks, one of them is added to the blockchain. The blocks of the other candidates are discarded.

The more delegators stake their ADA in a pool, the higher its chance of being nominated.
It therefore makes sense to stake your ADA in a smaller pool, as otherwise blockchain production will be concentrated on a few gigantic stake pool operators, which is not in the spirit of decentralization.