There are almost 2,000 Stake Pools available. Choosing which one of them to delegate your ADA with is a difficult task.
There are 2 Major Categories:
- From protocol standpoint
- Off-protocol considerations
This blog talks about the second category- Off protocol considerations.
- Operated by someone that you trust
Now this, is a real challenge. If you’re new to ADA, you probably do not know anyone yet, let alone pool operators. What you need to do is to do a little background check of the pool operators of your chosen stake pool. Ask Cardano communities about the pool operator or just simply ask those who have delegated to the pool if it can be trusted. That way, you can ensure full security.
- Operated by an NGO
This is pretty easy because we don’t want to have strings with the government right? It’s important that the pool leaders operate outside of government control to prevent possible problems that you can think of.
- Owned by more than one stakeholder
Some pools are operated by 1 individual and others are owned by multiple stakeholder. The advantage of having multiple stakeholders is the amount pledged to the pool which is another factor to consider. The amount of Pledge has an impact on the rewards that a pool can generate. If you don’t like the idea of a pool owned by multiple stakeholders, you can choose a pool depending on your liking.
- Provides you information about their performance regularly
I don’t know about huge pools, but we at BBHMM Stake Pool provide information to our delegators whenever there’s an update in terms of stake, block minted and other helpful information to let our delegators know that they are secured and well taken care of.
- Has an app that allows you to track your rewards easily
This is optional for you can just track your reward in your wallets. Though this may not be common to all stake pools for it will require a huge amount of fund to be able to develop an app for the delegators to use in tracking their rewards.
That’s pretty much it for the Off-Protocol Considerations. Let me know if you have other things to consider that should be added on the list.