Cardano SPO: Pool VET [VET]

This week’s guest on the Cardano SPO Column is a stake pool made by a veterinarian and a certain amount of revenue will be donated to non-profit organizations for animals such as WWF: VET Pool [VET].

Last week’s guest was a stake pool operated by Softwarez at its Best (SAIB Inc), based in the Philippines.

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.

Cardano SPO, interview with VET Pool [VET]

Hi, thanks for your time. Tell us something about yourself, where are you based and what is your background?

Hello. I live in Korea and run a veterinary hospital as a veterinarian. Currently, I am interested not only in Cardano, but also tokens and NFTs in the Cardano ecosystem. Also, as a veterinarian and SPO, I am interested in donating and helping animal organizations. In this way, I mainly treat animals as a veterinarian during the day and work as an SPO and investor at night. 

Treating animals is very rewarding, but seeing sick animals and their sad caregivers, does hurt me often. So, usually in the evening, when I come home from work, I keep thinking about what happened in the hospital during the day, and it became stressful. Because I have a great sense of mission for animals and my hospital, it was difficult to balance work and life.

However, after getting to know Cardano, I recently enjoyed my time after work. In reality, I am more tired than before, but I am happy. Being a veterinarian is my job and my mission, and Cardano makes my life better. I found work-life balance through Cardano.

How did you discover Cardano and why did you become a Stake Pool Operator (SPO)?

Four years ago, I was just a simple Ada follower and investor. However, I was fascinated by Cardano and Charles’ philosophy aimed at decentralization. And I also wanted to be a part of Cardano’s ecosystem. So I made a pool. As a veterinarian, it is a separate job, but since last year, I studied Linux that is unfamiliar to me, and made a pool in the second half of last year by referring to the data of the Cardano community. 

I wanted to set a precedent that proves Cardano’s ecosystem, which is truly decentralized, where even people who do not know much about IT or computer programming can run a pool. As a veterinarian and SPO, I wanted to promote Cardano to people who love animals.

Looking at the various pools, I realized that each pool has different goals. Furthermore, I found out that the pool gathers people who agree on the concept of the pool and support and sympathize with that direction. I am a veterinarian, I love animals, and I have a sense of duty to protect them. A portion of the hospital’s revenue is already being donated to animals. 

In the world of Cardano, I thought there would be many people with the same thoughts as me. So I thought it would be good for people like me to gather and stake together and donate some of our profits to animals in the future. That is the characteristic of the Pool that I can achieve by making use of my strengths. So, VET POOL was born.

What are your thoughts on the network of Stake Pool Operators? How hard is it for small SPOs to attract delegators?

It has become more difficult for small SPOs to attract delegators than before. Delegators do not delegate to a small pool because steady block generation is not easy if the pool isn’t big enough. In addition, the staked ADA of small pools decreased further due to Cardano DeFi and ISPOs. One of Cardano’s greatest strengths is decentralization, and if the activity of small pools decreases, I think that decentralization will gradually weaken.

I also want to know: besides Twitter, YouTube, Discord, etc., where else can you meet various delegators? What more can I do? We are always thinking. We also run Twitter and made a staking video on YouTube. But delegators are not increasing. Rather, I became friends with many small pool SPOs like me. I am genuinely curious as to where I can meet delegators and attract them.

If you look at Twitter recently, small pools are increasingly retiring. It’s sad to see my SPO colleagues leave, but I always think that it could be my story soon. You have to be strong though!

As a veterinarian, what applications of blockchain technology do you see in your field and more generally in the medical sector?

Blockchain technology has endless possibilities in medicine and veterinary medicine. It will be cheaper and easier to register and use patient records on the blockchain network. If the registration and reporting records of rare or extinct animals are recorded with blockchain, information can be easily shared around the world and animals can be protected.

Great contribution. Any final thoughts? Where can people stay in touch?

Cardano is a project with great potential for the future. It is a blockchain project for the public that is particularly focused on decentralization compared to other blockchain projects. I look forward to the future of Cardano. You can easily contact our pool through Twitter. Please feel free to get in touch with us.

Cardano delegators who love animals, you can invest, but you can also donate for animals. Animal lovers are even more welcome. Finally, thank you so much for organizing this interview for small pools. This is also a great strength and help for SPOs like me. Thank you so much.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the SPOs are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOHK.

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